The Boondocks in the Wild West
by CKingwill
Summary: It's 1871 in the Wild West, five years after the Civil War. Robert Freeman and his grandsons have arrived in the little town of Tumbleweedcrest in the Utah territory for a chance at a new life. This will be similar to the show but set in the Old West. Expect a majority of the TV characters to appear
1. Chapter 1

It was 1871. The Freeman family was an intrepid and adventurous clan who emerged from the Civil War and the dissolution of slavery. Unfortunately, they did not go unscathed. Nathanial Freeman and his wife Isabella, were freed slaves wo were both killed during a bloody battle of the Civil War. They were survived by their sons, Huey and Riley as well as Nathanial's father, Robert Jedidiah Freeman. Following the Civil War, the 2 boys fell under the care of Robert who was a self-proclaimed Civil War legend. Wanting the best for his family, they transferred from St. Louis, Missouri to Chicago, Illinois. Then, everything changed when Robert learned of the vast opportunities out West. It was then that the elderly Freeman packed up his grandson and they set out for the United States Territory of Utah.

The Freemans were nearing the Monument Valley of Utah. That valley nestled Navajo Indian territory as well as the Freemans' future home, the town Tumbleweedcrest. Riding in a covered wagon pulled by 3 powerful horses, Robert controlled the reins while Huey acted as navigator. Meanwhile, Riley daydreamed. According to Huey's gold pocket watch from his father, it was 10:15 in the morning. The boys were roused by Robert's optimistic announcement.

"Boys! Once we hit Utah, we'll be rich! We're going to dig up gold and oil! We'll be the richest negroes in the Union!"

"Right. And a black man will be president of the Union someday" Huey replied sarcastically.

"Aye Huey, stop bein' a hater!" Riley yelled. "We niggas ain't gonna get no president! Frederick Douglas was a bitch ass nigga! Buffalo Bill's much cooler!"

"Buffalo Bill is _white_."

"Nigga, we gonna meet tons of new white people. Get used to 'em!"

"Riley's right, boy" added Robert. How many more miles?"

"Well we made it to Utah. We just crossed the Colorado River" replied Huey after scrutinizing his map. "We'll be just north of Monument Valley. Why can't we just go to Salt Lake City, Granddad?"

"Because, Salt Lake City has gold but that gold has already been dug up! Tumbleweedcrest is much less developed and not as populated! There's not even 200 people there."

"I'm gonna be the first nigga to wear a gold chain!" declared Riley at the top of his young lungs. Huey Freeman rolled his eyes. Born the year the Civil War started, he had recently turned 10 years old. He wasn't sure if being born the year that bloody war commenced was a blessing or an omen. As an atheist, he cared for neither. All he knew was that he was proud to have been born free and he would always honor those slaves who never found freedom or died standing up for abolition. Meanwhile, his younger brother was a completely different story.

Born in 1863, the height of the Civil War, Riley Freeman could barely remember his mother or father. He was always taught that he was blessed to have been born free but he seemed to have taken that for granted. Born into a world of hatred and defacing racism, Riley never seemed to take no for an answer, even when faced by a white person. His mentality for greed made him stick out like a sore thumb amongst his African-American brethren. He had a knack for self-proclaiming that he was invincible and that he would end up wealthy and in charge of gangs and hoes.

Several blazing hours later, the Freemans spotted a sign. The sign read:

TUMBLEWEEDCREST. UTAH TERRITORY.

POP. 166

10 minutes later, they spotted something even better: the outskirts of what appeared to be the small town of Tumbleweedcrest.

While the Freemans approached Tumbleweedcrest, another pending resident was just committing to spend the rest of eternity there in said town.

"Thank you so much for recruiting me to be sheriff of your fine town, Mayor Wuncler!"

"No problem, Uncle Ruckus! I think with your confederate military experience, you will make a great replacement sheriff for the developing town of Tumbleweedcrest!" Mayor Edward Wuncler replied.

"May I ask, what became of your former sheriff? Did niggas kill him?"

"Oh no, this is Utah Territory my friend. The damn Injuns killed him!"

"Holy moly! My sympathies from White Jesus himself!"

"Yes thank you" Wuncler stated as he led Ruckus into a deserted sheriff's office. "So here's your front desk, you can order fresh coffee, and those are 3 jail cells for holding folks."

"Does Tumbleweedcrest get much crime, Mayor Wuncler?"

"Oh no, not really. If anything, the Navajo Injuns to the west stir up the most trouble around here. Fuckin' buffalo jockeys…"

"What do these Injuns do?"

"Once they raided our pantries for food. They've also scared our childfren on several occasions. And, they're just there!"

"I see your point Sir."

"Wonderful. In your desk is a map showing locations in the surrounding area where we know the Indians have been and where they live. Safe keeping purposes really. Okay, I think that just about covers it."

"Mayor Wuncler, I have one last question…"

"What is it now?!"

"Are there…. Negroes in this town?" Wuncler sighed and closed his eyes.

"Yes." Ruckus seem to freeze. "One guy named Tom. Has a white wife and a mulatto daughter. He's the local attorney actually."

"That is horrible news, Mr. Mayor…"

"Hey look outside, looks like we got more niggers coming." Wuncler pointed outside. Ruckus glued his eyes to the window and immediately, he gaped in terror. Outside, a covered wagon pulled by 3 sturdy oxen rode by. The 3 occupants were 3 black males, one old man and two children.

"No, no, no! This can't be!" cried Sheriff Uncle Ruckus.

"Well, I might as well go say hello to them" groaned Mayor Wuncler.

"Careful Mr. Mayor. Don't trust them new niggas over there! Leaving their nigga essences in the air —"

"Okay Ruckus. I get it; I'll watch my ass" Wuncler coldly replied to his new sheriff as he headed outside to greet the travelers. "Greetings travelers! Welcome to Tumbleweedcrest! The nicest little town in the entire Utah Territory! I'm Mayor Wuncler!"

"Oh well it is an honor to meet you, Mayor Wuncler!" Robert Freeman replied. Robert jumped off the wagon and shook Mayor Wuncler's hand.

"I see you got boys with you."

"Yes Sir. Those are my grandsons, Huey and Riley."

"Grandsons? No parents?"

"Unfortunately, no parents. Their parents were killed in the war. Unlike them, I was a veteran!" Robert bragged.

"Where are y'all from?" Wuncler asked, ignoring Robert's optimistic gloating.

"Chicago. Those boys was born in Missouri while I was born in Mississippi."

"Ah so you got Southern roots then."

"Yes Sir."

"So what brings y'all here exactly?"

"The job opportunities! I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I have always dreamed of being a negro who owned his own plot of land." Wuncler seemed to pause and think for a moment.

"I'll tell you what, Robert. I'll loan you a plot of land for you to have. 7 acres of pasture. Plenty of room for your oxen."

"Oh that would be just wonderful Mr. Mayor!"

"Mayor Wuncler, what in the hell are you thinking?!" Uncle Ruckus stormed over and interrupted the conversation .

"I'm offering these folks some land, Ruckus."

"Ruckus?" Robert asked of the new man.

"I am Sheriff Uncle Ruckus! No relation. As sheriff of this white God-fearing town, I find it intolerable that niggas can live in this town for free basically!"

"Pipe down Ruckus! As Mayor, I say what goes around here."

"Yes Sir…" Ruckus sighed. Before leaving, Ruckus turned back to the Freemans. "I'm watching you negroes. The West don't really need much new color, especially black!"

While Robert conversed with Mayor Wuncler, Huey and Riley took in their new surroundings. They saw buildings labeled "SALOON", "ATTORNEY'S OFFICE", "POST OFFICE", "UNDERTAKER", "GENERAL STORE", and "SHERRIF's OFFICE". The town was essentially a single two-way street that what it lacked in wagon traffic, it made up for with people traffic. Passerby's littered the streets. People and animals traveled all over.

"Aye, I know math is gay but I clearly remember that sign saying this town only got 166 people" observed Riley.

"You're right" responded Huey. "This is at least half the town in this burrow alone."

"I don't see no other black people" grumbled Riley.

"Me neither" said Huey. "This feels like a step down from Chicago."

"Agreed nigga, agreed. Think the kids here are cool?"

"Who knows?"

Suddenly, Robert got back on the wagon.

"Boys! We got us some land!" he announced with pride.

Robert followed Mayor Wuncler who rode on horseback out of the town square and towards the city limits. On the way, they passed housing of various income levels, ranging from mere shacks to impressive ranch houses. Wuncler stopped at an open pastured field that had a fenced in perimeter. Also, a wooden cottage stood in the far left corner.

"Here she is" announced Wuncler. "It's been deserted for about 3 years but I'm sure it's still cozy."

"Oh thank you Mayor Wuncler! Thank you!" Robert responded joyfully.

"Pleasure's all mine, Robert. Glad to see my town getting a little more diverse. Hope you don't mind me saying that."

"No, not at all Sir."

"My father owned slaves but unlike him, I wanted to go West. I wanted fortune. I wanted power not in the form of whipping men but in the form of treasure and politics. So, that's how I ended up out here. The West pretty much accepts anyone; except Injuns of course."

"Oh, I understand."

"You know Robert, in exchange for having this land, I'd like a little favor from you and your boys."

"What do you want us to do Sir?" Robert inquired.

"I need you to take care of some of my animals. I like to give them new real estate and your pastures would be perfect. I see you got some oxen so I'm sure y'all could learn the roots of being cowboys. I got horses and cattle. Cattle get moved around often for breeding and slaughter. If you agree, you can live here for as long as you want."

"Deal!" Robert declared as he signed a deed produced by Mayor Wuncler.

"Splendid! My grandson, Edward the Third should bring a share of my animals over in the next few days. In the meantime, settle in. Do you have any money?"

"No…. Spent it all on that wagon and food for our trip" Robert sighed.

"Okay. I can give you a day pass to the General Store and the Saloon. One day free."

"Thank you so much Sir!"

"Where's the gold at?" Riley piped. Huey sighed, guessing Riley was probably supposed to keep his mouth shut.

"Ah I see your boys want to be cowboys and prospectors! Well, they'll learn plenty in school."

"School?!" cried Riley.

"I best get going. I'll stay in touch. Good luck, Robert Freedman!" Wuncler said as he rode off on his steed.

"Boys, welcome to your new lives!" Robert declared as he made his way to their new house. "Well don't just stand there! Unpack the wagon!" he ordered Huey and Riley. "And bring me my flask of orange juice!"

At the end of that same day, the town that designated Tumbleweedcrest had been updated to say:

TUMBLEWEEDCREST. UTAH TERRITORY.

POP. 170


	2. Chapter 2

Two days later, Robert Freeman woke up at 5 in the morning to a knock on his door. Robert regretfully got out of bed and went to the answer the door. He opened the door and was greeted by a fairly tall muscular red haired man. "I got's some animals for a Robert Freeman?" the man asked in a slightly booming voice. He had on a sleeveless shirt, cargo pants, and a cowboy hat that covered his red hair.

"Yep, that's me" Robert replied.

"Name's Ed. I came to bring some of my granddaddy's animals over" Ed said, gesturing to a group of horses and long-horned cattle that were all hitched to a wagon.

"Oh yes" replied Robert. Robert then helped Ed get all the animals into the pasture. The pasture was big enough to hold both the Freeman's oxen and Mayor Wuncler's animals.

"Happy animal lovin' old man" Ed said to Robert before riding off towards the sunrise. Later, Robert tried falling back to sleep but he failed, causing him to become very cranky and irritated.

2 hours later, he woke Huey and Riley up.

Riley crawled out of bed and moaned, "Ah hell no! Dis nigga ain't doing no chores this early!"

"Deal with it" muttered Huey. "Part of having better lives involves work, unfortunately." The two fo them wandered outside to the pasture where Robert was waiting.

"Boys! While I go enjoy a nice hot breakfast, y'all are gonna give these cattle and horses some food and water!" Robert ordered. Abruptly, he left and slammed the door to the ranch house. Huey and Riley were left alone with the animals.

"Damn nigga, these cattle smell like fucking shit!" complained Riley.

"C'mon" said Huey. Huey found a box containing grain and ears of corn. The ears of corn seemed slightly old and therefore unappetizing so Huey didn't feel much regret for giving them to cattle. He carried the box of feed into the pasture. He urged Riley inside and they both spread the corn and grain on the ground for the cattle to consume. Huey stood by and watched the cattle feed while Riley went over to check on Wuncler's horses.

"Man, I hope we get to keep these horses" Riley shouted over to Huey. "I wanna be a cowboy and I want them horses to carry all my gold! I'll get a horse with a gold saddle! Yeah!"

"Don't count on it" mumbled Huey. Riley found the water pump. Before filling a bucket for the horses, he took a nice swig for himself. Then, he left a full bucket for the horses. When the horses didn't seem to notice the fresh water, Riley had an idea. Thinking fast, he found a lasso rope hanging on the barn wall. The horses were all congregated into a medium-sized pen within the barn. There were 5 of them. Riley snuck behind the seemingly clueless horses. Winding back his wrist, he used the non-looped side of the lasso to whip the horses. He whipped each of the bewildered horses one by one.

"Take that ya stupid animals!" cried Riley. "Go on, drink!" Instead of following Riley's orders, none of the horses moved. The one closest to the back, a big male named Augustine, looked behind and noticed Riley. Augustine responded to Riley's whipping with a back kick that narrowly missed Riley's skull. The horse's hooves snagged Riley in the chest and he was sent flying backwards. He landed in a pile of hay. Shocked, he yelled, "Mothafucka! I'll get you fo' that! You're lucky your owner cares 'bout you. Otherwise, dis nigga would turn you into glue, mothafucka!" Riley spat on the horse before hurrying outside. Seeing the cattle, Riley decided to try his new fondness for whipping on the cattle.

Meanwhile, Huey was getting water for the cattle. He returned to the pasture with a pail of water in each hand and came upon Riley attempting to whip the cattle. The incompetent beasts seemed to have no idea what was going on.

"Riley, cut that out!" Huey ordered his brother. The younger Freeman boy merely ignored his brother and kept whipping the clueless cattle. Huey poured the water into a trough. Some of the cattle noticed the water and began meandering over to the trough. "Riley. Quit whipping the mayor's cattle!" Huey yelled.

"Hell no! These animals deserve it 'cause they livin' in a shitty ass barn while dis nigga gets a pimped up house!" Riley declared.

"Stop whipping them! Our ancestors were once whipped by white men! Granddad was once whipped! Our parents were once whipped! C'mon, don't sink to the white man's level!" Riley looked down at the ground. A look of disdain formed on his mortified face. He sighed and put the lasso down.

"Nigga you gay" he muttered.

"I'm happy?" Huey asked, confused with his brother's language. "You can lasso the cattle. Just don't whip them."

"Yeah, whatever."

5 days after settling in, the Freemans had exhausted their supply of food that they had brought with them from Chicago. With no source of income as of yet, Robert thought it would be the perfect opportunity to use Mayor Wuncler's pass for a trip to the general store, free of charge.

As the Freemans were about to set out for the general store for groceries and supplies, a man stopped them. He was a friendly-looking black man with short hair, no beard, and a stature that didn't exhibit much strength. He was accompanied by a white woman and a mulatto girl around Huey's age. The man had on a nice suit and tie complete with a bowler hat while the woman and girl each had fairly long and loose skirts. The woman had blond hair while the mulatto girl had puffy orange hair in a bonnet.

"Hello there!" the man called to the Freemans.

"Oh? Are you our neighbors?" Robert asked, greeting them. Huey and Riley followed in tow. Based on the group's intimacy, Huey could tell that the group was a family. Huey wasn't used to seeing a colored man with a white woman; this was a first for him.

"Daddy! Those people kind of look like you and sort of me" the little girl said as she held her white mother's hand.

The man had a tanned caramel complexion. He extended his hand for Robert to shake. He smiled big with the confidence of a charismatic yet nervous poker player.

"Gentlemen! Good morning!" I'm Tom DuBois. I'm the local attorney around here. My family and I live in a little prairie cottage 20 acres away. This is my wife Sarah and our daughter Jazmine."

"Hello there! My name is Robert Jedidiah Freeman and I am a veteran of the Civil War. These are my grandsons, Huey and Riley.

"Greetings" Huey flatly stated.

"'Sup" said Riley.

"Welcome! It's a pleasure to meet all of ya!" said Sarah in a greeting way. "I made y'all this peach cobbler mush as a welcoming gift!" Riley took a whiff of the steaming oatmeal-like patty on a dish in Sarah DuBois's hands.

"Ohhhhh hell no" whispered Riley. "I ain't eating that shi—" Robert nudged Riley hard in the ribs.

"Why thank you! We greatly appreciate your thoughtfulness!" Robert replied.

"Oh we just want to make y'all feel welcome. In case you haven't noticed, there's not exactly a lot of our kind around here, if you know what I mean" Tom said, winking at Robert and then the boys.

"How did you end up out here Tom?" questioned Huey.

"Well, both my parents were slaves in South Carolina but they were freed by their master when he about to die. They had me and I grew up free. I always dreamt of attending law school and my parents helped me experience that dream. I graduated and found a job here in Tumbleweedcrest. That's when I met Sarah."

"You didn't want to help your brothers during the Civil War?" Huey asked suspiciously.

"No…. I didn't do anything. I stayed out here. I had a job and a family by then" Tom slowly responded. Huey eyed Tom with a mixture of disrespect and suspicion.

"I was born and raised in Salt Lake City but I moved here" added Sarah. "Little Jazmine here has lived here for her whole life."

"I like it here!" Jazmine piped. As soon as Riley heard Jazmine speak, he cringed with annoyance from her joyous and chirpy voice.

"So, we was about to head down to the general store" explained Robert.

"Have you guys seen the entire town?" asked Tom.

"No, not all of it."

"We'd be happy to give you guys a tour!" offered Tom.

"Uh sure, thank you."

"Don't mention it, friend! Have you got any money yet?"

"Yeah… Mayor Wuncler gave me a starting budget of $200 but he expects to take of his animals of his and he'll pay me $40 every two weeks." Tom pulled out a $5 bill and handed it to Robert.

"Here. Another little greeting gift" he said.

"Why thank you Tom."

"So, shall we get moving?" Tom asked.

"Yeah sure. I got a wagon with oxen."

"How about we all walk?" Sarah asked. "Get used to that Utah air?"

"Sure" said Robert. The Freemans followed the DuBois family down the dirt road back towards town. The walk into town lasted 20 minutes. Soon enough, the Freeman and DuBois families were walking down Main Street. The streets were still lively, just like when the Freemans first arrived. As they walked, Jazmine DuBois trailed behind her parents so that she could walk with the Freeman boys. As soon as she had laid eyes on them, she firmly believed that she found new friends.

"What do you guys like to do for fun?" she asked the two boys.

"Fun? I like learning" replied Huey. "I enjoy learning about my African ancestors and I also love to read. I also enjoy learning about martial arts from the Asian continent."

"I like makin' paper, you know what I'm sayin'?" Riley replied.

"I like playing with dolls and I love playing outside" said Jazmine, dumbly changing the subject somewhat. "Do you two like it here?" she asked them.

"It's okay so far" said Huey.

"This place seems solid so far" said Riley. "No bitch ass niggas so far."

"Are we really the only black people here besides your father?" Huey asked.

"I think so Huey. It's cool to see other people who look like my daddy though! It makes me feel more comfortable here too."

"What do you mean? I thought you liked it here?" Jazmine seemed to gulp.

"People here don't always like my daddy. He gets business but people seem to not like him. He doesn't really hear it but I think the grownups here don't like my daddy being with my mommy."

"Sounds like you have a racist or two around here" said Huey. "I figured that. How are the kids here?"

"Yeah it seems like you the only kid" added Riley.

"Oh, I'm not. The other kids must be at home or are playing. We don't have to go find them but I can show you guys some parts of town that I really like." Huey closed his eyes and contemplated a decision.

"Sure" Huey muttered.

"Yeah I'm in" said Riley. Jazmine smiled and grabbed each Freeman boy by a hand.

"Yay! Follow me!" she said as she led them away from her parents and Robert Freeman,

"Granddad, we'll meet you back at the ranch" Huey called back to Robert.

"Alright fine! Don't buy nothing though!" Robert called back.

"Follow us Robert, Sarah and I are going to show you the local Mormon Church" said Tom.

Jazmine led Huey and Riley a ways before taking them down an alley that led to the edge of town on the western side. They passed a small dairy farm and then went down another dirt path that was surrounded by shrubs and small cacti. They had been walking for about 20 minutes.

"Aye Jazmine is it? What's the story with gold 'round here? These kids takin' gold that Young Reezy's supposed to be finding?!" Riley demanded.

"I dunno. I've never seen gold before Riley" Jazmine replied.

"Pff well you're useless" Riley scoffed. Jazmine seemed to whimper, feeling hurt.

"What's all the talk 'bout?" a new female voice broke into the conversation. Huey, Riley, and Jazmine turned to see a blond haired girl with blue eyes staring at them. Her hair was tied into identical pigtails on either side and the top of her head was covered by a wide brimmed cowgirl hat. Wearing rustic boots, she was flanked by a boy and one other girl. She noticed the Freeman boys. "Who the hell are they?" she asked.

"Cindy, meet Huey and Riley Freeman" Jazmine said to the blond white girl. "They just moved here from Chicago."

"Chicago eh? I ain't seen a lot of yo' kind 'round here" Cindy said. "Name's Cindy but y'all can call me C-Murph."

"I'm Travis" the white boy said with a slight glare.

"And I'm Helena" the other girl, a brunette, said.

"Well Imma start out by tellin' you that Chicago be way different then Woodcrest or whatever the hell this town be called" Riley said.

"You talkin' 'bout my town, yo?"

"Your town?!"

"This is my town boy!" Cindy shouted to Riley. Suddenly, she produced a lasso. Whirling it above her head, she threw the looped end towards the unsuspecting, younger Freeman boy. The lasso captured Riley by his waist. As he reacted, Riley was yanked to the ground by Cindy's pulling. With a single flick from her wrist, she pulled Riley to her feet. Riley was tasting dirt. Behind Cindy, the boy and the other girl laughed at Riley's predicament.

"Damn girl! The hell was that for?!" Riley demanded. Cindy gave him a smug smile. She then turned to Huey, who had been silent the whole time.

"You a mute o' somethin'?" she asked him. "Yo' brother's doing all the talking."

"No I am not mute. I'm guessing you've never heard the phrase, 'actions speak louder than words'. Well, I do both actions and words."

"Reckon I haven't heard that before" Cindy said, shrugging. She grinned at Jazmine. "You wanted to show us your new colored friends?" she joked.

"What?! _Cynthia McPhearson,_ I ain't exhibiting nobody!" Jazmine spat, letting a bit of a valley girl speak slip out.Cindy grimaced at the mentioning of her full name. "I'm the first friend they've made —"

"You ain't my friend" argued Riley as he stood back up and yanked himself out of Cindy's lasso.

"—and I wanted them to make more friends" Jazmine finished.

"Cindy, how old are you?" Huey asked.

"I'm 9 but I ride dis town like a horse" Cindy replied. She turned to Riley. "I want you tell me more about Chicago ya city slicker."

"Man I ain't no slicker but aight" Riley said. "How's about we make a deal: I tell you some Chicago facts and you tell me 'bout the gold around here?" Cindy grasped Riley's hand firmly and shook it.

"Deal nigga" she said. "How's 'bout we go for a little drink?"

"Hell yeah" responded Riley. "I'm dehydrated."

"Cindy, you sure that's a good idea?" Travis said. "I reckon your daddy's gonna lynch that colored boy if he catches him near you."

"Travis Walker, you don't tell me what to do!" Cindy bellowed at Travis. Cindy then proceeded to kick the boy to the ground. Helena took a step back from Cindy before helping Travis up. As Riley was about to follow Cindy, the little valley pariah girl lassoed him once again.

Huey remained behind. After Riley left with his new "friend", Huey turned and headed back towards town. "I suppose I'll see you two in school down the road" Huey muttered to the two remaining white kids.

"Huh. My dad told me that niggers don't go to no school" stated Travis. Huey stopped, scowled at Travis and kept walking. Feeling uncomfortable, Jazmine hurried after Huey. As she headed out, she heard Travis Walker remark: "Looks like Jazmine finally found some of her own kind."

Sensing oncoming tears, Jazmine picked up her pace and sprinted towards Huey.

"Wait up Huey!" Jazmine called, running after her new friend. Huey noticed Jazmine beginning to cry. "I hate Travis Walker! I hate almost every kid here except Cindy! She was my only true friend before you and Riley came here." Huey turned back and looked at Jazmine.

"I thought you said you like it here" he said.

"I do; I just hate the people here. I like living here it's just, I always felt like a loser even though my daddy is supposed to have a great job."

"It's a strange time. The Civil War just ended and not everybody was pleased with the outcome. You may not realize it, but there might be people here in this town who would have loved to see your father and mother separated and your father in chains, working in a field. You as well probably."

"What?!"

The two children passed the jewelry store. Outside, a young man with tanned skin and long black hair was sweeping the porch. As Huey walked by, he absentmindedly glanced at the young man.

"Say, I think I see a Native American" Huey said. Huey backtracked towards the young man. The young man had a Hispanic look yet his physical appearance reminded Huey of the American Indians he had read about. The man was very young; perhaps 16 or 17. "Excuse me Sir" Huey called up to the young man. The young man glanced at Huey with piercing yet simplistic black eyes.

"Yes?" he asked.

"How do I put this? Are you of American Indian descent?" Huey asked, choosing his words carefully. He wondered he was the first black person this man had ever seen before. The man slightly frowned at Huey before walking down to where Huey stood.

"Yes" he seemed to sigh. "My name is Shiye. I have Indian blood but I also have Mexican blood. My full name is Shiye Santiago."

"My name is Huey Freeman. I just moved to this little town."

"We do not get a lot of blacks. The new sheriff is black but he is a self-hating devil."

"Couldn't agree with you more."

"What brings you here? Do you want to buy jewelry? My manager is inside. I'm only a store attendant."

"Sorry, not interested. I'm here because you're the first Native American I've ever seen."

"Well then. I am Navajo to be specific."

"Why aren't you on a reservation? I heard the Navajo reservation was nearby."

"My mother is Navajo but my father is Mexican. We moved here to find work and so that I could attend school. I have lived here for almost 7 years."

"Do you like it here? I've only lived here for 5 days and I have already experienced firsthand racism" Huey said. Shiye sighed.

"That is expected for people like you and I. People of color, black, yellow, or red, may be welcomed into town like this but we aren't always welcomed with open arms. As long as you keep to yourself, you can live a manageable life here in Tumbleweedcrest."

"I want to continue embracing my African heritage" Huey answered. "You should embrace your Navajo culture and your Mexican culture."

"I… I'm trying to fit in here Huey. I mean, I miss my reservation in a way."

"Then don't give up on your heritage or dreams then, friend" Huey said. He started to walk away. "I'll see you around Shiye."

"Yeah. Goodbye Huey."

Jazmine ran after Huey.

"I always thought Indians were scary" she said.

"There's more to Native Americans than you think" Huey said to her.

Meanwhile, Riley had untangled himself and followed Cindy McPhearson into town. He was in the middle of telling her about the city of Chicago.

"Chicago be the second largest city in America" said Riley. "We got dis thing called the Board of Trade. They run the whole economy bit but they ain't gangstas."

"I never been to Chicago" said Cindy. "Born and raised out here. All I know how to do is whip cattle, ride horses, read n' write, and steal."

"I can relate to one of those."

"Yeah? Which one?"

"Stealin' shit."

"Yeah? Prove it. Let's go to the saloon."

"I ain't got no money." Cindy gave Riley the evil eye.

"We gonna steal man" she grinned.

She took Riley back onto Main street. They passed the Undertaker before they found the Jackalope Saloon. "Best whiskey in town sold here."

"You drunk whiskey?" demanded Riley.

"Hell yeah man!" She led Riley into the saloon via a pair of wooden doors. The place was not exactly jumping; there were people scattered about and there were many empty tables left over.

"Aye wassup C-Murph!" a muscular red-headed man said to Cindy. He had on a pair of cowboy boots, a brown bandanna, cargo pants, and a pistol holstered on the left side of his pants. Riley recognized him as Mayor Wuncler's son. "Aye, you must be one of them new black kids" the man said to Riley.

"Yo what up?" answered Riley. Across from the man sat a bespectacled blond haired man whose hair was in cornrows, making him stand out amongst his fellow white folks. He also wore a red, white, and blue bandanna in his hair while his clothes were similar to the first man's.

"S'up Ed. S'up Rummy" Cindy said to both of the men. The men both looked around the same age, maybe in their late twenties.

"Cindy, does your pa know you hangin' with a colored boy?" the blond haired man named Rummy asked.

"No he don't know. He don't have to know" Cindy said slowly and awkwardly.

"You got something against me, nigga?" Riley asked Rummy.

"Who? Me? Hell naw man. You cool, you cool. Me and Ed here fought for y'all's freedom during the Civil War. Ya got it too."

"Fuck slavery, I'm a real nigga" said Riley. "But yeah, thanks."

"His family just blew into town. My granddaddy has them caring for some of his animals" Ed explained to Rummy who nodded.

"So Cindy, you gonna steal some whiskey?" Rummy whispered.

"Yes Sir. Is Christopher workin'?"

"You bet. We'll keep watch in case the sheriff shows up. That new sheriff is such a motherfucker!"

Cindy nudged Riley to follow her back outside. He followed her to the back of the saloon. Out back was a wooden dumpster and an ice box. Creeping behind the dumpster, Cindy had Riley duck as a young man in his late teens emerged to grab a few fresh bottles of whiskey from the ice box. Having grabbed his fill, he closed the ice box and went back inside.

"That's Christopher, the bartender" Cindy whispered. Sensing that the coast was clear, she scurried over to the ice box, opened it, snagged an unopen bottle of whiskey, and fled back behind the dumpster. For a few seconds, she and Riley waited. Then, Cindy signaled Riley to run. The two kids ran down an alley and Cindy attempted to conceal the whiskey bottle. They ran past the Mormon church and the town graveyard. Beyond the graveyard, they came across an open and deserted pasture. Seeing that the coast was clear, Cindy took out a bottle opener and opened the whiskey. Before taking a swig, she gave it to Riley. "Newcomers first" she said. Riley, never agreeing with the whole common curtesy idea of women first, gladly sipped the whiskey and took a nice chug.

"Damn! That's good!" he declared.

"Firewater man" Cindy said as she took a swig.

Several swigs later, Riley and Cindy each felt the effects of the alcohol but they remained sober.

"I don't know much 'bout dis town" said Riley. He burped.

"There ain't much. We got tons of white folks but a few Mexicans and some migrant Chinese guys. We also got some Injuns but they don't say much. 'Round here, fun is stealing whiskey, stealing other stuff, riding, and cow tipping."

"What's cow tipping?"

"You'll learn about that later. I hang with pretty much every kid in town but that mixed girl Jazmine is my only real good friend even though my pa doesn't let her come over to my house ever."

"Sounds like you got strict parents based on what Ed and Rummy was sayin'."

"Yeah… Well my pa is. He's one of the most racist guys around these parts. I could care less about what people look like. My momma died of somethin' called dysentery when I was younger and my daddy remarried to some younger hoe."

"Damn that sucks. Both my parents died in the war."

"Shit sorry."

"It's all good… I think I should get back to my granddad."

"I gotta get home too." Cindy smashed the empty whiskey bottle against a rock. She then led Riley back to the town's main road. She told him to go left and he'd get to the General Store. She then departed for her own home so that her father wouldn't be able to see the two of them. Now alone, Riley hiked back towards the General Store. 10 minutes later, he walked up to the store's porch. Scanning the store for his grandfather, Riley came up short. As he exited the store, he saw Huey.

Huey Freeman had wandered over to the General Store thinking that Robert would be there. Jazmine still followed him in search of her parents. Huey noticed Riley.

"Aye man, you seen Granddad?" Riley asked Huey.

"No. Where's your new friend at?"

"Who? Cindy? She went home" Riley seem to mumble.

"Boys! There y'all are!" a familiar voice yelled from the street. The boys turned and found Robert with the covered wagon and Mr. and Mrs. DuBois in tow. The wagon was stacked with new food and supplies. As the boys and Jazmine headed over to meet their respective families, another familiar face appeared.

"Well, well, well what do we got here?" Sheriff Uncle Ruckus asked as he rode up on a horse white as copy paper.

"Sheriff! What a pleasant surprise…." Tom said to Ruckus.

"You must be Tom. That nigga lawyer Mayor Wuncler mentioned. I'll tell you what: your coon ass would be my last choice for a lawyer!"

"Uh huh…" Tom slowly replied. Ruckus turned to Robert Freeman.

"These supplies better have been paid for. We don't take theft lightly in these parts. And everybody knows that negroes would steal almost anything. Food, beer, education, money, white women. Ruckus paused and looked at Sarah. "The list goes on and on."

"Sheriff, I'll have you know that these supplies were paid for by Mayor Wuncler himself!" Robert objected. "He gave me a one day pass to the General Store since he hasn't paid me yet."

"Well then, I hope you don't take advantage of the white man's generosity. The proud white man is like White God: charitable yet also distasteful of the negroes' antics" Ruckus stated with a preachy tone in his voice. Eyeing Huey, Riley, Robert, and Tom together, Ruckus stated: "It seems niggas congregate together whether they in slave quarters or not."

"Ruckus, c'mon!" groaned Robert.

"Sheriff, as this town's only attorney, I think you should treat me and my family and friends with more respect" Tom stated assertively.

"Thomas DuBois, I'll have you know that as long as I run this town, you are as good as lynched. One false move and you are lynched!" Ruckus declared, waging a meaty finger in Tom's face.

Robert, Tom, and Huey scowled at Ruckus before Robert got the wagon moving down the road.

An hour later, the Freemans dropped their new friends off at their cottage before riding back to their own ranch. As he hopped off the wagon, Huey said to his grandfather, "Granddad, I hope you somewhat regret coming to this town."

"What?! I don't regret it all! There is free land for us! I get a job that you boys will inherit! There could be gold out here!"

"This town is full of racist scum."

"Open your eyes boy! The whole Union's like that to some degree. Just deal with it. Just know that you're better than those crackers."

"Yeah man" said Riley. "Besides, if we strike gold, we'll be richer than every single one of dem white sons of bitches!"

Huey sighed and retired to the bedroom for the night. He and Riley shared a room with a bunk bed that they had built themselves. Before turning in, Huey pulled out his map and began to fill out new areas he had explored such as Main Street. Before and Riley turned in that night, Robert came in and said:

"I almost forgot, you boys are supposed to start school tomorrow!"

"Awwwwww Hell nooooooo!" cried Riley.

Huey merely rolled his eyes. In the back of his mind, he had a feeling school out here would be an unpleasant experience.


	3. Chapter 3

Early that morning, a pony express rider rode into Tumbleweedcrest. A newcomer, he found his way through the town as his horse galloped down the road. A black man, he approached his new job with a feeling of pride. 10 years ago, Otis Jenkins was merely a teenager working in cotton fields in Georgia. Now emancipated, he was an aspiring traveling postal service and delivery man.

Otis stopped in front of the town post office. Nearby, a covered wagon was stopped on the side of the road. Otis disembarked from his horse. Seeing that the post office wouldn't be open for another hour, Otis decided to make an announcement.

"I got a message for a mister Uncle Ruckus!" he called. "Is Uncle Ruckus present?"

"He's not around now but I'll gladly take it to him" said a man walking over. Chewing on a lit cigar, this man had emerged from the parked covered wagon. He had sand blonde hair covered by a wide brimmed hat. Beneath that hat, some parts of hair were beginning to gray. The man had a massive build. The man, maybe 6'3 somewhat towered over the black postal service man. He also sneered.

"Uh yeah sure. Uh less work for me ya know what I'm sayin'?" Otis awkwardly replied. He produced the letter in his hand which the white man practically tore from the black man's hand.

"I'm sure Ruckus'd rather have me give it to him. Considering that you're just a dirty nigger" the man stated with cold ice gleaming in his blue eyes.

"Aye whoa whoa man! Last time _I_ checked, Civil War ended!"

"That don't mean nothing to me. A chained nigger ain't much different than an unchained nigger. Unchained niggers are just more bitchy and reckless. Do yourself a favor. If you stay in these parts, don't go on pissing off the wrong folks." Otis took each of this man's words personally.

"Shit man, I mean Sir. What's your name?"

"Buck. I'm a good friend of Uncle Ruckus. He don't think too highly of niggers."

"Uhhhh okay, okay I get it" Otis said as he got back on his horse. Still waiting on the post office to open. Otis opted to go over to the saloon. He had plenty of money for a drink and even a place to sleep for the night.

Buck returned to his wagon. After buying a few things at the general store, Buck had some more errands to do that morning. Two of those included dropping his kids off at school and getting a letter to Sheriff Uncle Ruckus.

When the sun came up that same morning, Huey and Riley got out of bed to get ready for school. Prior to eating breakfast, they gave water to the horses, cattle, and oxen. When they came back inside, Robert gave them some toast.

"What are your thoughts on us getting some chickens?" Robert asked Huey and Riley.

"Can we afford to?" questioned Huey.

"Yeah we can in a few days. Mayor Wuncler said that my first paycheck should be available at the bank soon!"

"Free eggs" Huey pointed out.

"Granddad, when we gonna go lookin' for gold?" asked Riley. "Dis nigga still wants his gold chain!"

"We'll go when I want to, boy. And that will be soon! I just want to get people to know us. That way, we can slip in and find gold and nobody will care."

"Expect some minor setbacks" replied Huey. "Setbacks as in Uncle Ruckus. For all we know, negroes might not even get to have gold in these parts."

"There you go expressing your disdain for being a negro" sighed Robert. "We're free! Be happy!"

"I don't get that Ruckus dude Granddad. That nigga looks like us yet he claims he's white" said Riley.

"He's I dunno… crazy" said Robert.

"He's in denial. He's self-hating" said Huey.

Huey and Riley headed outside to walk to school. They had nothing.

"Take this change" Robert said to Huey, handing him a few coins.

"Is this lunch money?"

"Hell no! I want y'all to go see how much the whiskey at the saloon costs! Bring your granddady back a nice mug!"

Huey responded with a sigh. He and Riley got to the end of their property. On the edge of their ranch, someone was waiting for them. It was Jazmine.

"Hey guys! Ready for school? I'll walk with you!" she chirped. "I've been waiting! Let's go!"

"Damn Jazmine, stalker much?" Riley muttered. The three kids headed into town. The schoolhouse was not in town but near Mayor Wuncler's house on the east side. There were several nice houses in that area.

While the kids walked to school, Robert Freeman got his day going. His morning ritual was suddenly interruoted by a knock on the door. He answered it and was surprised to find Mayor Wuncler and the town banker, a Mormon named Gareth.

"Mayor! Hello!" said Robery.

"Greetings Robert Freedman. I see that my animals are looking healthy."

"They sure are."

"I was wondering if you were interested in taking another job… Another job for me."

"What do you want me to do?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we're working on a new section of railroad track for the Union Pacific Railroad. We need more men out there to lay down track. You seem like a fairly decent able-bodied man for your age."

"You will be paid for it, in addition to being a shared rancher" Gareth added.

Robert, envisioning himself surrounded by money, nodded and said, "I'll do it!"

"Splendid" said Wuncler. "And once your boys are old enough, they can find work on the tracks as well. Minimum age is 14."

"Follow us" said Gareth.

Wuncler and Gareth brought Robert Freeman to the outskirts of town on the Northside. They weren't kidding; where what once was mere desert and wilderness floor was now a developing section of railroad tracks. Around two dozen men were working around the site.

"Now, here's your paperwork. All you have to do is sign in and the manager will put you right to work" said Wuncler.

Robert took his paperwork, thanked the two men and headed over. He found the manager relaxing in a chair and smoking a pipe.

"You new here?" the manager asked. Robert habded the man hs paperwork.

"Yes Sir. I'd like a job here, thank you kindly."

"Hmmmm well you seem to check out. You seem somewhat old however and you're —"

"Sir, I'll have you know I'm in spectacular shape" Robert asserted as he flexed and stretched. The manager seemed amused.

"All right. You'll start out on a salary of $2.50 an hour."

"Thank you!" Robert said. The man called a worker over. The worker appeared to be Chinese. He had no beard and short black hair that was covered by a conical hat.

"This is Shen Chung. He has been working here for 3 years. He'll show what to do."

Shen Chung greeted Robert in Chinese. Shen led Robert over to the tracks and Robert awkwardly followed. He grabbed a sledgehammer and demonstrated how to hammer the metal bolts into the track. Robert also watched as 10 men laid down another length of metal rail that was then hammered in. Grabbing a sledgehammer, Robert Freeman got to work. The first few hammer strikes were painful for his back but he got the hang of it quickly. Already 5 minutes in, Robert was sweating excessively. As he continued to work, Shen Chung worked alongside him. The majority of railroad workers were Chinese or Mexican. Robert was the only black worker. Shen began to talk in Chinese. Robert realized that Shen was talking to him.

"Uhhh I don't understand" Robert said to Shen Chung.

"I tell story" Shen Chung managed to say in English. Robert rolled his eyes and began to listen as Shen Chung droned on in Chinese, telling him stories about growing up in China and coming to America. This was going to be a long day.

"How's school in these parts?" Huey asked Jazmine. They were close to school.

"Well, the kids can be kinda mean but Cindy's there to be my friend. We're learning about long division and the American Revolution."

Jazmine led the boys through town and eastward. As the neared the schoolhouse, they saw more children. The children varied in age. The youngest they saw was perhaps 6 and the oldest was around 15-16 years old. Most of the children were white but Huey noticed that 3 Hispanic children were the only other non-white children present. The 5 of those kids were younger like Huey, Riley, and Jazmine.

Buck halted his wagon 30 yards from the Tumbleweedcrest schoolhouse. A man who had grown up in the Utah territory, Buck was a ranch hand for Mayor Wuncler. In the past, he served other people's ranches almost like a sharecropper. The job didn't generate much revenue but he and his family got by, despite being seen as one of the poorest white families in town.

"Have a good day at school" Buck said to his kids. Cindy McPhearson climbed off the wagon. She was followed by her younger brother, Zeke, who was 7. Cindy also had an older brother named Justin but he had dropped out of school 2 years ago and eloped with a girl and left town.

As Buck watched his kids walk towards school, he noticed a familiar face: Cindy's mulatto friend, Jazmine DuBois. With that girl's heritage in mind, Buck never approved of Jazmine being friends with Cindy. He also disliked how Jazmine's father, Tom made more money than he did despite Buck being white and Tom being black. But what really ticked him off was the fact that Jazmine wasn't alone. Walking with her were two black boys also around Cindy's age.

"Cindy!" Buck called.

"What, Pa?" Cindy asked. Buck pointed out Jazmine, Huey, and Riley.

"I don't want you going near them nigger boys. Paling around with that little mulatto girl is bad enough."

When Cindy realized that her father was referring to the Freemans, Cindy felt sad inside. "Okay, no worries." She sighed before leading Zeke to school.

As Buck turned the wagon around, he was greeted unexpectedly by Sheriff Uncle Ruckus.

"Sheriff! Reckon I didn't expect to see here."

"Well Buck McPhearson! Great seeing you again!" Ruckus greeted his friend.

"Ruckus listen, some nigger just blew into town."

"What?! Another!?"

"'Fraid so. He was a postman too. He had a letter for you but I took it upon myself to give it to ya. Here." Buck handed Ruckus a fairly formal letter with printed stationary.

"Oh! This must be a response to my request!" Ruckus said.

"Response to what?"

"I sent a letter out asking for more folks to join the police force. I sent it to Mississippi because I wanted some white men I could definitely trust." Ruckus got the letter open. "'Dear Uncle Ruckus, my name is Levi Grimes and I am a former Confederate soldier. I served as a sergeant under General Robert E. Lee. I would be happy to assist you in your attempt to corral your new town out west. I respect your veteran status as well. I am working on bringing my two comrades who were also former soldiers. We or perhaps just I will leave as soon as we can. Best regards, Levi Grimes.'"

"Damn that's great" said Buck. "All we got around here are a couple former Union soldiers but they don't do nothing."

"Yes. These men would be excellent. Excellent for making arrests and lynch mobs!"

"We haven't had a lynching out here in a damn long time" said Buck. "I'd be happy to be of assistance if you need anything."

"Thank you Buck! You are the definition of a true white man friend. Now, I best get going. I'm going to school."

"School? What the hell for?"

"It has come to my attention that there are nigger children, a mulatto child, and Mexicans at the school. I have decided to segregate the school. That way, our precious white children don't get exposed to those filthy niggers and wetbacks."

"Well, it's 'bout time somebody did that! Keep your eye out for my little girl, Cindy McPhearson. I don't want her anywhere near them niggers."

Ruckus saluted Buck before riding on his white horse towards school.

Back at school, Huey and Riley followed Jazmine into the schoolhouse. Riley saw Cindy McPhearson but the latter seemed to ignore him. Up front, a brunette haired white woman started taking attendance. The teacher, named Miss Wheeler, noticed Huey and Riley.

"Excuse me, are you boys new?" she called out to Huey and Riley.

"My name is Huey Freeman" Huey answered. Riley didn't answer. "That's my brother, Riley" Huey continued. Huey noticed that he, Riley, and Jazmine had somehow been seated in the back with the Mexican kids. Every row ahead of them was filled with white children.

"Okay. Hope y'all feel welcomed. Now children, get out your chalkboards and we will continue with our lesson on division." Almost immediately, Riley thought he was going to fall asleep. Beside him, Huey listened to the lesson with ease.

Outside the schoolhouse, Uncle Ruckus paced back and forth. His plan for segregating the school was about to get underway. Finally mustering what he would say, Ruckus opened the door to the schoolhouse. All the children watched as the sheriff entered.

"Oh, Sheriff, can I help with something?"

"Yes you sure can. Miss Wheeler, I am about to make your schoolhouse considerably less crowded and less illegal. I want all the negroes, mulattos, and Mexicans to follow me outside." Huey closed his eyes. He had a feeling something bad would happen at school. Regretfully, he led all the minority children outside.

"Okay all you minorities will be attending school here for now on" Ruckus said, gesturing to the schoolhouse front lawn.

"How are we supposed to go to school outside?" asked Jazmine. Ruckus led the children over to a wooden box. The box was about 2 feet tall and 5 feet wide.

"You children will share this desk." Ruckus threw down a few chalkboards. "Here are chalkboards to write on." He gestured to the trees. "The colored bathroom is right here. Just don't let no white children see your colored privates." Behind the schoolhouse was an outhouse reserved for the white children.

"Where's our teacher?" demanded Huey.

"Your teacher will be here tomorrow. For now, just sit here and do nothing like the insignificant minorities that you all are" Ruckus replied before getting on his horse. "Besides, it's not like your peoples will make history or something."

Now alone, the 5 children sat at their congregated desk and were dumbfounded.

"Aye me, my parents are going to be angry with me for not learning" said a Mexican boy named Juan Carlos. "My angry parents will give me lots of pesadillas." The other child, a girl named Rosita, agreed with Juan Carlos.

"Okay" Huey announced. "With no teacher here, I have decided to teach." He climbed on top of the crate.

"Yo' ass ain't teaching me shit!" protested Riley.

"Let's start with some history. Recent history to be exact. Harriet Tubman: why was she significant?"

"Who was that?" asked Riley.

"Yeah, who was that?" asked Jazmine.

"I will explain." After 4 hours of Huey's history, math, and science lessons, the school bell rang for school to be let out. A couple dozen of white children poured out of the schoolhouse and into the schoolyard. Miss Wheeler, following her departing students, came upon the Freeman boys and Jazmine.

"Hey there. I don't really know what to say about the sheriff's behavior. I feel sort of bad for y'all being out here all day. If that teacher don't show up tomorrow, I'll try my best to sneak you kids back inside the classroom without the sheriff noticing."

"Thank you" said Jazmine.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night" responded Huey. It wasn't that bad out here."

"Well… I just want all my pupils to have the same opportunities. Believe me, I was all for slavery ending."

Huey nodded to Miss Wheeler before walking away. As Riley caught up with Huey, he noticed his friend from earlier. Cindy met up with Jazmine who led her over to Huey and Riley.

"Yo guys. Sucks to be y'all. I woulda come out here to keep ya company but I think my pa would've caught me."

"Whatever" said Huey. "Shouldn't you be heading home or something?" Behind Cindy, her little brother Zeke lingered.

"Aye Zeke, tell pa, I had to stay and homework, okay?"

"Okay" Zeke replied before he ran after the other 7 year old kids.

"Y'all thirsty? I know where the freshest water is. Jazmine knows what I'm talkin' about." Jazmine then nodded happily.

"Yeah I'll go" said Riley.

"Sure" Huey sighed.

Cindy McPhearson led her friends behind the schoolhouse and past the nicest houses in town. She led them passed a large, fancy pasture that belonged to Mayor Wuncler. The cattle were all scattered about. The children saw ranch hands near the barn but they moved under the cover of the cattle. Next, there was a second pasture that was abandoned. Cindy explained that this was now used as a public watering area for cattle. The pasture had a nearly dried up cattle pond, baked by the heat. Huey and Riley were beginning to feel scorched before Cindy stopped at a pump. The pump was a metallic hand pump. Cindy used her right hand and pressed down on the pump's handle and the pipe began to pump out water.

"There's a well down below" Cindy said. Riley greedily stepped forward and immersed his mouth with cool, refreshing freshwater. Next, Jazmine got a drink. Huey cupped his hands and took several handfuls. Finally, Cindy rewarded her service with some handfuls of water for herself.

"This open to anybody?" asked Riley.

"Pretty much. I don't think folks around would you or your brother getting' this water though."

"I'm not surprised" muttered Huey.

Jazmine wandered over to the cattle pond. "I've seen people swim in this when there's more water in it."

"People swim in dat shit?! That's gay" said Riley. As he smirked, he was suddenly splashed with water from the pump by Jazmine.

"Stop insulting everything here Riley!" she pouted. Soaking wet, Riley shivered, looked down, and saw that the water had seeped into his pants. It looked like he had wet his pants. Cindy and Jazmine began to laugh. Huey seemed to hide the slightest hint of a grin. Feeling pissed and embarrassed, Riley bolted back to the pump, shoved Jazmine aside, and pumped water that he collected and splashed at Jazmine and Cindy.

"Hey!" both girls exclaimed. They were both wearing dresses and they were now soaking. Cindy took her hat off, filled it with water, and splashed it all over Riley.

"Awwww shit!" Riley bellowed. "Mothafucka!"

"I've told you before, this is my town boy!" Cindy declared. Riley was soaked to his skin. Seeing that Riley's hair was dripping wet, Cindy said, "You should think about getting a hat. You too, Huey. They'll make you blend in 'round here."

"Whatever" Huey said, standing as far away as he could from the water pump.

"Huey are you scared of water?" Jazmine teased.

"No" Huey stated calmly.

Jazmine gathered the courage to quickly pump herself out a handful of water and toss it at Huey. Huey must've sensed the water coming because he leapt up into the air, did a backflip, an dodged the splash of water. He landed safely on the ground to a stunned Jazmine and Cindy.

After a while, the 4 children opted to head back into town. It was still hot enough outside so that their wet clothes were air dried. Soon, the kids found themselves back in town. Cindy lived on the southwestern side of town in what she considered to be "the ghetto". They were on Main Street.

On the opposite end of Main Street, Buck McPhearson was on his horse, Keller. Zeke had told him that Cindy was still at school and Buck expected her to be home by now. Starting to get worried, he rode off in search of her. Up ahead, he saw a group of children. He wondered if Cindy was among those children.

As Cindy walked down the street joyously with her friends, she suddenly spotted a lone man on horseback approaching. "Shit!" she cried. Huey, Riley, and Jazmine all stopped dead in their tracks.

"What now?" demanded Huey.

"CINDY MCPHEARSON! You get your ass over here this instant!" barked a raspy male voice.

"It's my pa…" Cindy sighed. The man on horseback hurried to where the children stood. Around them, Huey noticed a few small crowds of white people staring, waiting to see what was going to happen. The man had his horse stop right in front of them. Dirt nipped the kids as the horse came to a stop.

"Cindy, I thought I told you stay away from these niggers!" Buck McPhearson barked. He climbed off his horse and stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a cigar fiddling in his mouth.

"Look, pa, they're my friends!" Cindy begged.

"No daughter of mine's gonna be friends with no niggers!"

"Hey there Sir, you need to look where you are. Does this look like Alabama to you?" Huey demanded to the white man. Behind them, the crowds seemed shocked at the sight of Huey talking back.

"I don't care where we are! I ain't letting my only little girl turn into some pansy nigger-lover!" Buck yelled. He turned to Jazmine. "And you! I don't like my girl really paling around with you either, ya white nigger!" Jazmine began to whimper loudly.

"Pa, I was just about to leave" Cindy tried to explain. "I wanted to be with my friends…"

Suddenly, Buck struck Cindy across the face, sending her sprawling into the dirt. Both Huey and Riley tensed. Cindy whimpered and staggered to her feet, showing a moment of weakness.

"Aye man! This ain't your town!" Riley yelled.

"Compared to you, it is" Buck said with a sneer. As Huey and Riley tried to help Cindy up, Buck reacted by shoving both boys to the ground. Then, he abruptly spat on both of them. "That's what ya damn niggers get! Get outta here! Nobody wants y'all here!" Huey and Riley's faces were now wet with Buck's saliva mixed with dirt. Behind them, members of the white crowd laughed. "Y'all stupid niggers better go on back to where ya came from. Or else y'all gonna get lynched!" Huey helped Riley up. With Jazmine, they headed in the opposite direction away from Buck and Cindy McPhearson. "Y'all niggers ain't shit!" Buck called after them. Cindy stood at his side, a few tears coming down her pale face. She still wore her hat but her pigtails were now as disgruntled as her now dirty clothes. Buck pulled out his flask. He took several gulps of rum before putting Cindy on Keller and climbing on.

"Stay away from our children!" another white man yelled at Huey, Riley, and Jazmine from afar. Feeling humiliated and demoralized, the 3 children staggered back home.

Jazmine cried practically the entire way home, balling on that nobody had ever treated her so poorly before that. She said that that was the first time she had actually met Cindy's father too. Before heading towards her house, Jazmine lingered by the Freeman boys.

"That just made my day awful!" she sobbed.

"Embrace your heritage, Jazmine" said Huey. Forget what Mr. McPhearson says. Especially embrace your African side. Along with that white blood, you carry the blood from several generations of hard-working slaves.

"But my dad was born free Huey."

"I know. But still, be aware of your roots. Never forget about them." He and Riley then headed towards their own land.

"Guess I can't hang with her anymore" Riley said with a sigh.

"Guess so. I think she was the nicest white girl I have met in a long time." By now, the boys were within their property. The door to the cottage was opened by an exhausted Robert Freeman.

"Oh boys, how was your day?" Robert moaned.

"Terrible" said Riley.

"We were verbally assaulted in the street and Ruckus didn't let us go to school with everybody else" explained Huey.

"He segregated y'all?"

"Yes. Us, Jazmine, and some Mexicans were all forced to sit outside all day with no teacher."

"That fat, one-eyed bastard" Robert muttered. "I got another job."

"Doing what?"

"Workin' on the railroad."

"All the lived on day?" Huey asked. "Isn't that bad for your health?"

"Well sort of. I met some Chinese guy and he talked to me all day in Chinese. Thought my ears were gonna explode from that nonsense."

The Freemans sat down for dinner. With Robert's new source of income, they could most likely buy chickens sooner than later. Throughout that evening, Huey Freeman reflected on the horrors had experienced. Despite feeling bad, Huey knew that his parents and his grandfather had had it much worse back in the day. Meanwhile, Riley was disappointed that he probably wouldn't be able to chill with his friend Cindy anymore.

Despite experiencing unwelcoming verbal assault, Otis Jenkins decided to stay in Tumbleweedcrest for a few days to refuel and recharge. He wanted to see if any brothers were out here.

As the sun went down that day, a lone man on horseback approached the outskirts of Tumbleweedcrest. Blind in both eyes, this man appeared to be deathly old with black skin loaded with liver spots, wavy gray hair going off in various directions, and a mouth full of rotten teeth. A handful of ravens flew high above the man and his horse, as if signifying that he was a bad omen.

Previously, this man had been with a traveling band of elderly thieves. However, his group hated him so much that they kicked him out. Full of animosity, greed, and self-pride, this man like to think that he left his old group on his own time, referring to them as "a buncha punk-ass, pansy-ass, faggot-ass, bitch-ass niggas". Still riding, the man's horse stopped in front of a road sign. Reaching a bony hand out, the man was able to feel the sign and read the Braille beneath the normal-written text. "Hmmmm. Tumbleweedcrest. Utah" the man observed. He proceeded to spit on the sign. He then had the horse gallop further down the road.

As he neared the town, the man could smell the smells of civilization: manure, wood-burning stoves, and wagon wheels moving. Firmly believing that he had arrived at his destination, the old man let out a cackle. "Oh yeah! Dis is my town now Nuggah! It's time to fuck shit up!"

To be continued...


	4. Chapter 4

That night, it was a dark night. Gray clouds masked the heavenly glow of the full moon. Under the cover of night, the mysterious old man moved against the town. His horse carried him into the sleeping town and the blind man walked the streets without a care. Luckily for him, nearly all the town's building labels were written in braille on their doorposts. Realizing that he was in the center of town, the old man climbed off his horse. "Stay, ya bitch ass nuggah" he spat into the horse's face. He then proceeded to clamber about the wooden walkway outside the buildings, feeling with his wooden cane. Every time he came across a door, he felt around for the braille label. Finally, he found something that interested him: the bank. This old man was no ordinary elderly traveler. He had been kicked out of a group of traveling thieves known throughout the land as the Hateocracy.

Using his wooden cane, the old man busted his way into the bank. Sensing that nobody was inside, the old man blurted "Where's all the money, nigguh?!" Feeling his way around, the old man hobbled about until he found a safe. But not just an ordinary safe; it was the mayor's safe. Pryign the safe open, the old man declared, "Ah yeah! I'm getting me some good shit!" Feeling around inside the safe, he found loads of bank notes. "Hehahehaheha! Ain't nobody gonna stop Colonel H. Stinkmeaner!" Stinkmeaner stuffed as many bank notes as he could into his pockets before hobbling outside and back to his horse. He needed a place to crash.

The next morning, Huey Freeman awoke to a windy day. It must've been the windiest he'd ever seen the Tumbleweedcrest area so far because he could see tumbleweeds rolling wildly outside in the wind like loose marbles. Unlike Huey, Riley was extremely slow to wake up. Both boys were hurt physically and emotionally by the beat down they had endured the day before. Huey beat Riley to the pasture outside.

As he tended to Wuncler's animals as well as their own animals, something caught Huey's eye. There was a dead tree on the edge of the property and a scrap of paper was stuck between two branches. Huey left the animals alone briefly to go retrieve the paper. Little known fact, Huey was able to read while Riley wasn't. Huey turned the paper over and found writing on the other side. "Wanted; dead or alive: H. Stinkmeaner" Huey read. That particular sentence served as a caption for the crude photograph of an extremely old-looking black man. "Description: blind old negro man." Huey decided to pocket the piece of paper for safekeeping. Whoever this Stinkmeaner guy was, he definitely seemed like a bad guy. Noticing that he was finished with the animals, Huey went back inside and woke Riley up. The two of them ate breakfast and got ready for school. Half an hour later, Huey and Riley set out with Jazmine for yet another day of segregated school.

While his grandsons went to school, Robert Freeman commuted to his new secondary job as a railroad worker. Yesterday, he was told that he was free to take any spare, leftover wood that the workers had discarded. Robert took his wagon along with one of his oxen so that he could load wood onto the wagon. He figured he could get some free firewood out of the deal. As he rode through town, he past some old black man he had never seen before. The man was deathly old with scraggy, messed up hair and dark glasses covering his eyes. Robert could've sworn he heard the man mutter "bitch ass nigga" as the man rode by on a horse. Robert decided that it wasn't a big deal and pressed onward to the work site.

When he arrived at the work site, activities were just getting started. Robert unhitched his oxen from the wagon and tied him off to a nearby tree near some other men's horses.

Robert made his way over to his fellow workers. Aside from Shen Chung, Robert had met Mexican migrant workers Eduardo Alvarado, Miguel Esquivel, Martin Cervantes, Julio Chavez, and Enrique Castaneda along with the other Chinese workers named Donghai Wong, Hung Wu, and Xin Gao. All the men were hard workers. Robert checked in with Gareth and the site manager named William Stinson. Stinson informed Robert that the boss (aka Mayor Wuncler), might drop by and bring a guest: the head of the Union Pacific Railroad for the western region. Stinson wanted the Mexicans, the Chinese, and the lone black to be on their best behavior. Robert grabbed a hammer, some nails, and made his way over to the track to get to work. Shen Chung happened upon Robert as if he were waiting for the old man. Robert braced himself for a Chinese lesson.

While Robert was at work, Huey and Riley found themselves once gain outside the schoolhouse in their little "colored school": the grass and a single wooden crate that served as a communal desk. The only good thing was that their teacher had finally arrived. Their teacher was a young American-born Chinese man named Mr. Feng. Feng was 19 and he was fluent in English and he had basic math and writing skills down so the children were not deprived of learning very much. Huey would have liked Mr. Feng better if the latter wasn't such a sucker and a pushover for the whites around town. Huey would volunteer to start a discussion about racialism in the town and Feng would simply ignore Huey and shrug the topic off. The other kids liked Feng as they saw him as friendly and fair when he gave them a longer recess than the white children got. During recess, Riley tried to sell a cool-looking rock to one of the Mexicans for a dollar while Jazmine played with dandelions in the grass. She made herself a little crown of dandelions and she resolved to make a crown for Cindy McPhearson but she was unsure if she'll ever get to give Cindy that present.

Meanwhile, Huey attempted to converse with Mr. Feng. During their conversation, Huey learned that Feng was born in Salt Lake City to parents who had arrived in Utah Territory from Shanghai. Feng graduated high school in Salt Lake City and he was training to become a teacher by teaching in Tumbleweedcrest. What Huey really liked about Mr. Feng was that he had briefly mentioned having a passion for martial arts.

"You practice martial arts?" Huey asked.

"Yes I do, Huey. I enjoy learning about them and practicing them."

"I've only read about them."

"Yes? Which ones?"

"Kung Fu and Karate mainly" Huey replied.

"Well, I know quite a few moves in both of those" Feng said with a grin.

"Maybe you teach me?" Huey asked. "My family doesn't really have any extra money for lessons however."

"Oh no, do not worry about paying. They would be free of charge. We can start whenever you want to."

"Thank you sir" Huey said gratefully. Soon, class resumed.

Back at the railroad construction site, Robert Freeman had just endured almost 3 hours of nonstop Chinese chatter to his eardrums by Shen Chung and the other three Chinese workers. Robert was so busy trying to focus on hammering and block out the Chinese that he did not notice that the same weird old black man he saw earlier had arrived at the site.

"Where the fuck am I?!" Stinkmeaner demanded as he wandered on his horse into the railroad construction site. Stinson made his way over to Stinkmeaner with some uncertainty to his walking.

"You're…. at the construction site for the Utah territory branch of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks" said Stinson. "State your business."

"What's good, nyuggah?" Stinkmeaner sneered in Stinson's direction. Stinson gaped with disgust.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave my construction site, negro" Stinson sternly replied. Stinkmeaner started bouncing up and down on his saddle.

"Fuck yo' site, nyuggah! Fuck yo' site!" Stinkmeaner paused. "Hold up!" He sniffed the air. "I smell paychecks."

"Yes…."

"Gimme a job, nyuggah!" Stinkmeaner thundered, swinging and waving his walking cane in the air.

"Okay! Okay! See that other negro working beside those Chinese guys over there?"

"Nyuggah, I'm blind!" Stinkmeaner spat.

"Okay. I'll guide you over." Stinson carefully led Stinkmeaner over to where Robert Freeman worked. "Robert, we got another new worker. Show him what to do." Robert looked up and found Stinson gesturing to the crusty old black man he saw earlier.

"Who the hell is this?" Robert questioned.

"My name's Stinkmeaner! My momma named me Stinkmeaner, nyuggah!" Stinkmeaner spat in Robert's face.

"This old coon wanted a job. Show him what to do" Stinson told Robert, Shen Chung, and the others. Stinson then walked away with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Okay, Stinkmeaner" Robert said. Robert grabbed Stinkmeaner a hammer to use. "So you just hammer these nails into the tracks."

"Nyuggah, I'm blind!" Stinkmeaner protested. "You's a stupid-ass, bitch-ass nyuggah!" Getting fed up, Robert wacked Stinkmeaner's cane out of his hands and gave him a mallet, a smaller hammer.

"Use this. Just kneel down and feel for the tracks" Robert ordered Stinkmeaner.

"Damn nyuggah" Stinkmeaner muttered before getting on his knees. After a few tries, Stinkmeaner had successfully hammered two nails. Feeling that the stupid old blind man didn't need help anymore, Robert got back to work. As Stinkmeaner worked, he was building up increasing feelings of animosity towards Robert Freeman. He had to get back at Robert somehow.

When it was time for a lunch break, Shen Chung was eating a sandwich of pork and Raman noodles. After he was finished, he tied his shoes. As he stood up, he accidently bumped into Stinkmeaner.

"Watch where you goin' bitch ass nyuggah!" Stinkmeaner boomed to Shen Chung's face. Shen Chung apologized to Stinkmeaner in Chinese.

"What did you say, nigga?!" Stinkmeaner responded. Whipping up his cane, Stinkmeaner caught Shen Chung off guard by hitting the Chinese man in the balls with the cane. Shen Chung cursed at Stinkmeaner in Chinese while the latter hobbled away laughing evilly.

Soon, the workday was nearly over. Just as he had anticipated, Robert had gotten the opportunity to collect some spare wood to serve as firewood for his home. He had loaded 2 whole bundles of loose spare wood onto his wagon along with a jug of well water. While Robert went off into the bushes to relieve himself, Stinkmeaner tended to his horse. Stinkmeaner silently cursed, bitching about how his new job sucked. Stinkmeaner absent-mindedly glanced in the direction of Robert's wagon. Also, he hit his horse with his cane, casing the animal to scream in pain and gallop into the Robert's wagon head on. The horse collided with Robert's wagon, infuriating the lone ox. Stinkmeaner wandered over to the wagon. "You bitch nyuggah horse! That's your fault!" Stinkmeaner spat towards his horse. As he pulled his horse back, Stinkmeaner smelled fresh wood. Realizing that this was Robert Freeman's wagon, Stinkmeaner gleefully clambered into the wagon and took a bundle of wood for himself and just simply to fuck with Robert. Stinkmeaner tied the bundle of wood to his horse's saddle.

"Hey! What in the hell are you doing Stinkmeaner?!" Stinkmeaner loosely turned in the direction of the sudden appearance of Robert Freeman.

"Your wagon's in the way of my horse, nyuggah!" Stinkmeaner shouted at Robert. Robert glared at Stinkmeaner, eyeing him and his horse.

"Hey! I see some of my wood on your horse's saddle!"

"It's my wood now, nigga!" Stinkmeaner cackled.

"Give that all back!"

"Hell no! Finders keepers, nyuggah's weepers, nyuggah! You got a problem with that, nyuggah?!"

Robert stood his ground, unsure what to do with this crazy, blind thief of a black man. Because the concept hadn't been invented during this time period, Robert Jedidiah Freeman was unaware that he had found himself in a nigga moment. Nigga moments are defined as occurrences when ignorance overwhelms the mind of a perfectly logical black man. It takes two or more black men and a minor incident to initiate a nigga moment. In Robert's case, a nigga moment was nearly inevitable. Most often, nigga moments ended in violent disasters.

Robert still stood, firmly glaring at Stinkmeaner. Despite being blind, Stinkmeaner seemed to make eye contact with Robert.

"Hehahaheha! I'm stealing yo' wood! Stinkmeaner declared while climbing into his horse. "What you gonna do, nyuggah? What you gonna do?!"

Robert took a deep breath. Men from the worksite began gathering where he and Stinkmeaner stood. Robert realized that he could try fighting this man (in his opinion, he would win due to his war veteran status) or just simply shrug it off and walk away to avoid embarrassing himself. Luckily, he chose the latter option. Robert scowled at Stinkmeaner before climbing onto his wagon and getting his ox to start pulling the wagon.

"Where you goin' Robert?!" Stinkmeaner yelled.

"Away from yo' ugly ass" Robert shot back as he made his way out of the worksite.

From behind him, Robert heard Stinkmeaner shout: "Pussy-ass, bitch-ass, faggot-ass nigga!"

It was nearly 3:30 and Robert realized he could probably go get Huey and Riley from school. Despite thinking they could just walk home, Robert decided to meet them halfway.

At 3:30 in the afternoon, the school day was over. Huey and Riley packed up their newly acquired school chalkboards. Riley successfully convinced Huey to leave Jazmine behind while the latter looked for Cindy to give her a dandelion crown. "Screw her gay shit, man" said Riley as he and Huey headed down the trail towards town and towards home.

Meanwhile, despite losing sight of Huey and Riley, Jazmine successfully found Cindy and gave her the dandelion crown. Flattered, Cindy took Jazmine's gift but told her she'd have to lie to her dad, Buck and say that a white girl made it for her instead. Jazmine was okay with this. The 2 girls then parted ways for the day.

Huey and Riley had just excited the proximity of the schoolhouse when they nearly bumped into 2 familiar foes: Sheriff Uncle Ruckus and Buck McPhearson.

"Afternoon, little coons" said Ruckus. He then brushed past them and kept walking. Buck remained, blocking the boys' path.

"What's good, niggers?" he asked.

"Nothing" muttered Huey.

"Nothing's good. Stay away from my kids and all the other white children in these parts."

"Man —" Riley objected before being stopped by a kick from Huey. Buck sneered at their behavior.

"I outta hang ya niggers from nooses till you're choked out senseless and dead" Buck scoffed to Huey and Riley.

Huey simply glared at Buck. Riley attempted to yell but he was stopped once again by Huey. Buck spat on the ground by Riley's foot. "Missed" he said. He then turned around and walked away. Eventually he met up with Cindy who told him that a white girl had made her the dandelion crown she was carrying.

Sighing, Huey and Riley trudged towards home. Soon enough, they found themselves within the center of town and all the activity occurring around them. Putting Chicago aside, when the two boys looked around, Tumbleweedcrest was their city now. Suddenly, the boys they could see their grandfather.

"Boys!" Robert greeted his grandsons.

"Granddad since when do you picking us up from school?" Riley asked.

"We got yelled at again" said Huey.

"Oh hell no! Well, you two can guide the ox while I take a nap" responded Robert. Huey and Riley climbed into the wagon. "Where's that little girl friend of yours? What's her name?" Robert asked, inquiring about Jazmine.

"Man she still at school" replied Riley. Robert shrugged and handed the reins over to Huey. Huey roused the ox and the wagon got moving. Riley sat next to Huey while Robert lounged in the back. Their wagon hadn't moved very far as Huey was stopped by a man in the road.

"Is Robert in that wagon?" a really old black man asked Huey.

"Yes. Robert Freeman is here with us…" Huey answered suspiciously.

"What you want nigga?" Riley yelled. The old man grinned with a nearly toothless grin.

"Robert, it's me. Come out and play!" Stinkmeaner cackled. Inside the wagon, Robert snapped out of his napping state.

"Awwww hell noooo!" Robert yelled, realizing it was Stinkmeaner.

"That's right! I hear you inside Robert! C'mon out ya bitch-ass, pussy-ass, stupid-ass nigga!" Outside, Huey and Riley glared at Stinkmeaner. Huey couldn't help but feel that Stinkmeaner looked familiar for some reason. Soon enough, Robert Freeman stuck his head out of the wagon.

"What do you want Stinkmeaner? I thought I told you to leave me alone!" demanded Robert.

"Robert, we ain't done yet. Not until yo' bitch ass face is splattered all over my cane!"

"Oh hell no! Dis nigga be threatening us!" yelled Riley. He jumped off the wagon. "Granddad, let's kick this nigga's ass right here, right now!" Sighing, Robert climbed off the wagon.

"You're right. This man needs an ass whopping" Robert replied as he took off his whip-like belt off his wrangler cargo pants. Huey stared in disbelief. His grandfather was picking a fight with an old, crazy blind negro.

"Nigger fight! Nigger fight!" shouted several townspeople. A crowd had gathered to witness the oncoming matchup between the old black men. Robert and Stinkmeaner slowly walked towards one another. Robert had his arms folded to his side like upside down L's as if he were in a pre-draw stance. Only instead of guns, he had his whip-like belt. Meanwhile Stinkmeaner merely had his wooden cane.

"It's just two niggas trying to kill each other" Sheriff Ruckus observed from afar.

"Hehaha looks like everyone in town wants to see you get yo' ass whooped, Robert!" Stinkmeaner boastfully stated. Robert Freeman clenched his teeth and twirled his belt high in the air.

"God damnnit! To Hell with you Stinkmeaner!" Robert yelled as he charged straight for the crazy, old blind man. Stinkmeaner must've sensed Robert coming at the right time as he stepped aside at the right moment and tripped Robert with his cane. Robert fell to the ground and landed in a bewildered state.

"Oh yeah! Who's the bitch-ass nigga!? You are!" Lying on the ground, Robert gargled and spat in Stinkmeaner's blind face. "Ahhh! Ugh!" Stinkmeaner yelled as Robert's saliva landed on his old pores. Rather than rant, Stinkmeaner instantly knew a good comeback. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a few of the bank notes he stole from earlier. He put them in Robert's hands.

"What the hell?! Bank notes?" Robert asked, still on the ground.

"Oh shit! I was defending myself from this crazy man!" Stinkmeaner seemed to yell in the direction of the townspeople. "Oh shit! Robert Freeman here has stolen bank notes from the mayor!" Several townspeople gasped.

"What?! The hell I did!" Robert objected.

"Let me have a look" the voice of Sheriff Uncle Ruckus broke the townspeople's gasps and chatter. Ruckus jumped off his horse, walked over to Stinkmeaner, and swiped the bank note out of his hand. "Oh my white god! These do belong to Mayor Wuncler! Robert Freeman, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to gladly take you to my office for questioning."

"What?! Ruckus I didn't do anything!"

"You won't be so free much longer for all we know" Ruckus coldly responded as he yanked Robert to his feet and handcuffed him.

"Granddad!" Huey shouted.

"Aye, who snitched?!" Riley demanded. Huey glanced over at Stinkmeaner.

"Sheriff, arrest that man too" Huey told Ruckus.

"Will do. I'd arrest you little negroes too but I don't see the point in doing so…. Yet" Ruckus replied as he handcuffed Stinkmeaner as well.

"I'm clean Sheriff, believe me" Stinkmeaner bragged to Ruckus.

"Oh no, nigga. No niggas are clean" Ruckus responded. He then proceeded to drag both Robert and Stinkmeaner away from the crowd and towards the Sheriff's Office building.

"Granddad!" Huey yelled once more.

"Huey, you're in charge!" Robert yelled back to Huey as Ruckus restrained him. Clenching his fists, Huey Freeman climbed back up onto their wagon along with Riley and they begrudgingly rode home.

4 hours later.

Huey and Riley made dinner for themselves that night. Their dinner consisted of cornmeal mush, carrots, and some grilled pork. The pork was Riley's idea.

"Man, fuck this Huey" Riley said to Huey as they ate.

"Yep" Huey dryly replied.

"How we gonna get Granddad outta the hoosegow? We ain't got jobs. We can't hold this place down without Granddad."

"We'll have to prove him innocent somehow. But he's black so no one will really listen to him and we're black children so people would definitely not listen to us."

"Aye Huey."

"What?"

"You still a bitch. Hehahea." Riley's joke was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Huey? Riley? Let me in" Tom DuBois's voice was heard from behind the front door. Huey got up and let Tom inside. "Hi boys…." Tom said. "I'm sorry about your grandfather."

"It not like he's dead" muttered Riley.

"No, but he could be" countered Tom. "A convicted negro out here is as good as lynched."

"You're an attorney. Why don't you defend our granddad?" asked Huey.

"I was just going to suggest that" said Tom. "I want your input. Maybe some evidence to prove him innocent?"

"Man he didn't do it! That's the evidence right there!" spat Riley.

"I know he went to work on the railroad when we went to school this morning" said Huey.

"Okay…. Did he say if he was going to make any stops?"

"No. But he did bring his wagon with him."

"Okay…" said Tom. "What do you know about that man who got arrested with Robert?"

"Well I know he an old bitch" said Riley.

"He just kind of came out of nowhere. It sounded like he knew Granddad because he referred to him by his first name. Granddad knew Stinkmeaner too. Stinkmeaner was armed and he looked dangerous. But he was blind."

"Okay" responded Tom.

"Granddad accused Stinkmeaner of stealing firewood from our wagon. Then, Stinkmeaner challenged Robert to a fight and they got arrested soon after that in regards to the bank notes scandal."

"Hmmm okay I'll make note of all this. In the meantime, you boys are free to stay at my house until Robert gets out of jail" said Tom. "In fact, I insist on it."

"Awww hell no!" protested Riley.

"Alright" Huey muttered.

Elsewhere, Robert Freeman was behind bars and he wasn't alone. It was midnight and as much as he'd rather be at home, in his cot sleeping, he was locked in a jail cell in the sheriff's office. To make matters worse, Uncle Ruckus was asking him pestering questions and Stinkmeaner was next to Robert in the cell to the left.

"Now Robert, I am able to use enhanced interrogation methods" Uncle Ruckus said, gesturing to his right boot. "Now, why did you have wood in your wagon?"

"I told you. Mr. Stinson allows workers to take home any leftover wood from the worksite. And I am one of his workers. I was taking home two bundles to use as firewood but this asshole just jacked one of my bundles."

"Finders keepers, Robert!" bragged Stinkmeaner.

"Okay, fine, fine. Stinkmeaner, you smelly old crusty negro, what's your story?"

"Well Ruckus, what do ya want to know, nyuggah? My whole life story?!"

"Where you from?" Ruckus asked more specifically.

"I came from Georgia, sweet ol' Georgia."

"Nigga Georgia" Ruckus scoffed.

"Don't get me wrong, nyuggah. I hate negroes as much as you do. I hate everyone but negroes especially."

"Really? I don't even consider them to be people really." Unbeknownst to Robert, Stinkmeaner was getting Ruckus on his side.

"South should have won the war so that they could keep all them bitch ass niggas down in chains" said Stinkmeaner.

"Hahaha agreed, meaner."

"So, this bitch-ass nyuggah named Robert Freeman comes up in this town and robs from the mayor! That's a criminal if I ever seen one!" Stinkmeaner justified.

"Well Robert, them notes were found in your hands. I see no other option of punishment than to lynch you tomorrow morning."

"FUCK! NOOOOOOOOOO!" cried Robert.

"Stinkmeaner, you are free to go" grumbled Ruckus as he opened Stinkmeaner's cell.

"See ya tomorrow at your lynching you biiiiitch ass nyuggaaah!" Stinkmeaner sang to Robert as he hobbled out of the sheriff's office.

"Ohhhhh helllll nooooo!" Robert continued to cry.

"Robert" Ruckus said. "Look on the bright side. At least you'll be reunited with your fellow niggas who perished in the Civil War." Robert scowled at Ruckus.

"Get outta here, Ruckus" Robert muttered.

"My office. My jail. I leave when I want to" argued Ruckus.

Soon, Ruckus left and Robert was all alone except for the feelings of loneliness and fear for his life.


	5. Chapter 5

That next morning, it was a Saturday. Because they were off from school, Huey and Riley slept in slightly. When they woke up, they went back over to the ranch, fed, and watered the animals before heading into town. Robert was able to have morning visitors. Tom accompanied the boys to the Sheriff's office. When they arrived, they happened upon Mayor Wuncler exiting the Sheriff's office. "Oh it's you boys" he said to Huey and Riley. "I can't believe it. I can't fucking believe that your grandfather would go out of his way to stab me in the back the way he did. Word of advice to young negroes like yourselves: don't grow up as thieves. Get jobs and listen to everything your shite superiors say. They say jump and you ask how high. Understood?"

"Yes Sir" both boys sighed. Tom then led them inside. Inside the Sheriff's office, Uncle Ruckus sipped a cup of coffee at his desk while Robert sat hunched over and half-asleep in his cell. Stinkmeaner was nowhere in sight. Robert snapped out of his nearly comatose state.

"Boys!" he cried.

"Granddad!" Huey and Riley yelled, running over to Robert's cell. Robert hugged his grandsons through the bars.

"Robert, I'm trying everything I can to clear your name…" informed Tom.

"Won't work Tom. I'm convicted" said Robert.

"He's going to be lynched today!" Ruckus shouted.

"NO!" shouted Huey.

"Fuck!" cried Riley.

"I'm sorry boys…. I tried to be a good granddad after your parents died…. You're on your own…." Robert sighed tearfully. "I'll say hi to your mother and father when I you know…. get up there….."

"Okay family reunion's over" Ruckus said as he shoved Huey and Riley towards the door. Tom reluctantly followed. Huey's mind was racing.

"We'll clear your name Granddad!" he shouted before Ruckus slammed the door and locked it.

Back at the DuBois homestead, the Freeman boys sat at the kitchen table in a state of unified melancholy. Neither knew what to do.

"Granddad's gonna be lynched soon and it's all Stinkmeaner's fault!" yelled Riley.

"I know… We need to get Stinkmeaner…. We have to expose him."

In the meantime, Jazmine had made the boys scrambled eggs for breakfast. She had decided to use her growing culinary skills to lighten the boys' moods. It wasn't working though sadly. Neither Huey nor Riley had touched their scrambled eggs.

Jazmine came into the kitchen and handed Huey a scrap of paper. "Huey, I was about to wash your pants for you when I found this paper in your back pocket. Isn't that the man who got your granddad arrested?" Jazmine held up a crumpled piece of paper with a sketch of Stinkmeaner. Huey recognized it as the scrap of paper he found the day before.

"WANTED: H. STINKMEANER. Dead OR ALIVE. DESCRIPTION: BLIND OLD NEGRO."

Huey took the paper from Jazmine's little hand. Riley walked over and saw the paper and Stinkmeaner's picture on it.

"Oh shit nigga!" he cried.

"Riley, we can prove Granddad innocent with this!" Huey shouted slightly.

"Yeah!" The two boys took off for the front door immediately. Feeling that she was a part of this case for finding the crucial evidence, Jazmine ran after the Freeman boys despite her parents telling her not to go see the lynching.

Huey and Riley had made their way into town but they were too late: angry throngs had gathered in the center of town where a wooden gallows had been rigged up. Mayor Wuncler stood at a podium on the gallows if it were a center stage.

"People of Tumbleweedcrest, you are about to witness justice. Justice for me and punishment by death for this black man" Wuncler said to the people of his town.

"He's a nigger!" a man yelled from the crowd. The boys recognized the voice as belonging to Buck McPhearson.

Huey and Riley ducked behind a parked wagon. Jazmine caught up to them and hid with them.

"Hi —"

"Shut up Jazmine!" Riley hissed at her.

Riley peaked and saw Stinkmeaner somewhat with the crowd but lingering back most likely due to being black. Ruckus hadn't been generous enough to give him a front row seat to Robert's lynching. "I see Stinkmeaner" said Riley. Huey and Jazmine peaked and saw the old chaotic man as well. Scanning the crowd, Huey saw Shiye Santiago. The young Mexican/Indian man looked like he regretted showing up to the lynching.

"Nigga, how we gonna catch Stinkmeaner?" asked Riley.

"Don't forget; he's blind" stated Huey. "I think I have an idea." Huey whispered to Riley and Jazmine his plan of action. Both of them agreed to it. Jazmine was glad that she was going to have the easy part.

"Yeah! Lynch the nigger! Lynch the nigger!" throngs of townsfolk bellowed. Ruckus dragged Ruckus up onto the wooden gallows. Robert was restrained and he had his hands tied behind his back.

The crowd was ravenous and for a group of Mormons, seemed almost bloodthirsty. Within the crowd, Tom DuBois stood with a guilty expression.

"I failed that man. He… he was my friend" Tom sadly said.

"Tom, it's not your fault" Sarah sighed. She stood next to Tom. Suddenly, Sarah gasped. "Where's Jazmine?!"

"I… I don't know! Huey and Riley are gone too!" The couple gazed forward toward the gallows.

A short while later, Jazmine stormed up to Stinkmeaner so that she faced him. "Hey you" she said.

"Whatcha want ya pipsqueak nyuggah?!" Stinkmeaner asked, momentarily distracted. With his back turned, Stinkmeaner did not notice Huey come up from behind. Huey got in a low fighting stance and took out both of Stinkmeaner's legs via kicking them. Sure enough, Stinkmeaner's legs gave out and the old man toppled to the ground. "Awww shit! Ya tricked me!" he cried. However, Stinkmeaner recovered quicker than the kids anticipated. As Huey moved to restrain him, Stinkmeaner lashed out. He got on all fours, stood up, and almost wacked Huey in the face with his cane. "I'll get you, nyuggah!" he laughed. As Huey got ready to fight Stinkmeaner, Riley attempted to takedown Stinkmeaner only to get hit and tossed aside. As Stinkmeaner cackled menacingly, he was suddenly tackled from behind.

"I got him!" Ed the Third yelled, restraining Stinkmeaner. Ed and Gin Rummy suddenly popped out of the crowd when they saw Riley and Huey in distress.

"Ed! Rummy!" Riley cried.

"Stinkmeaner is the criminal! Not our granddad!" Huey said, holding up the WANTED poster showing Stinkmeaner.

"Right we on your side" replied Rummy.

"We have to get him up front" ordered Huey.

"Right" Ed said as he and Rummy dragged the now feeble Stinkmeaner through the crowd.

"Put me down ya pussy-ass bitch-ass, faggot-ass niggas!" Stinkmeaner yelled.

"Shut the fuck up!" Riley muttered. Ed and Rummy dragged Stinkmeaner through the crowd of lynching spectators.

"Is what y'all nice white folks want?" Ruckus asked the crowd. "A nigga: lynched for his crimes against the town of Tumbleweedcrest!" Ruckus dragged Robert closer to the noose.

"Yeah! Yeah! Lynch him! Lynch him!" the crowd cheered and applauded. Ruckus smiled at the crowd.

"Stop! Stop the lynching!" Huey yelled as he stormed up onto the gallows.

"Huey?" Robert asked. Riley ran up onto the gallows followed by Ed and Rummy who still dragged Stinkmeaner.

"Little nigga! How dare you interrupt a lynching!" Ruckus shouted.

"Lynch him too!" Buck yelled.

"Why's he here?" Wuncler asked, inquiring about Stinkmeaner.

"Nobody's lynching anybody" declared Huey. He held up the scrap of paper. "We need some clarification of evidence."

"What are you talking about?!" demanded Ruckus and Wuncler.

"We caught this fucker red-handed granddaddy" Ed said to Mayor Wuncler, gesturing to Stinkmeaner. Huey held up the scrap of paper once again.

"This is a WANTED poster. The criminal depicted is him, H. Stinkmeaner!" Huey yelled, pointing at Stinkmeaner. "He's wanted in 5 states including Georgia and he's wanted in the Idaho territory. He has a history of robbing banks."

There were some gasps from the crowd along with looks of puzzled bewilderment.

"So?" Wuncler demanded. He tapped his foot impatiently. Ruckus was itching for a lynching.

" _So_ , Stinkmeaner framed my granddad. My granddad is innocent. Stinkmeaner has been a lying, vile…. Negro this entire time" Huey said, sighing as he said 'negro'.

"I'm innocent you faggot-ass nigga!" Stinkmeaner yelled. "Ruckus, if you too much of a bitch ass nigga to lynch Robert, than Imma do it myself! Hehahahahehaha!"

"No!" Robert protested. Robert looked to Wuncler and Ruckus for any support but neither man offered him any.

"Get off me, nyuggahs!" Stinkmeaner yelled at Ed and Rummy. He stepped down hard on Ed's foot while he bit Rummy's forearm. Both slow-witted veterans released Stinkmeaner as they cried out from their wounds. Feeling around for Robert, Stinkmeaner yelled: "Lemme at him! Lemme at him!" Ruckus instinctively backed away from Stinkmeaner, leaving a still tied up Robert Freeman vulnerable. Stinkmeaner used his strong senses of smell and direction to locate Robert. Robert gulped as he found Stinkmeaner heading towards him. Robert was 6 inches from the noose and a good 2 feet from Stinkmeaner.

"Fight him Granddad!" yelled Riley. Stinkmeaner seemed to follow Robert but the latter backed away.

"Robert ya pussy ass nigga!" yelled Stinkmeaner. "Fuck ya and dis place!" he yelled as he had his arms raised, attempting to strike. Robert took a few more steps back. He walked across a squeaking floorboard which Stinkmeaner detected. Stinkmeaner lunged. Then, everything happened so fast.

As Stinkmeaner lunged, he thundered, "Fuck yo bitch ass , faggot ass, stupid ass nigga!" Almost by instinct, Robert felt like he was in a game of chess and he was the king. The final piece. He made his move. As Stinkmeaner now charged, Robert raised his right leg and kicked Stinkmeaner hard in the testicles, sending him falling backwards. Stinkmeaner lost his balance, twirled, and fell…. Head first into the noose. His neck went perfectly through and he was trapped. Sensing the trap, Huey secretly pulled the contraption lever without hesitation. Stinkmeaner's limp, choked corpse dangled helplessly from the hangman's noose. Wet saliva still dripped down his recently deceased lips.

The crowd cheered at the sight. Acknowledging the crowd's cheers, Sheriff Ruckus cleared his throat and said, "Well, I suppose there ain't much difference when it comes to niggas. A dead negro is a dead negro."

"The nigger's dead!" the crowd boomed.

"Robert Freeman, you are free to go. This is your first and final warning. One more time and you'll be dead too" Ruckus said to Robert with an unfriendly nod.

"My apologies, Robert" said Wuncler. Huey and Riley hugged their granddad.

"It's…. all right" Robert gasped. Huey and Riley led Robert down the gallows steps and away from the crowd. As they walked, the DuBois family came up. The two families came together as friends. Tom even hugged Robert. As they walked away from the crowd, Huey spotted Buck McPhearson. The man gave the boy the evil eye and the boy gave the man the evil eye.

"I saw what you did" Buck whispered to Huey. Huey lost sight of him in the crowd.

Back on the gallows, the crowd had begun to disperse. Uncle Ruckus spat on the dangling corpse of Stinkmeaner.

"Ruckus" said Wuncler. Ed and Rummy had left soon after Stinkmeaner was dead. Their work was done.

"Yes Mister Mayor Wuncler?" asked Ruckus.

"Leave the body up for now. Let it be an example to more potential criminal niggers."

"Will do Sir!"

As the Freemans and the DuBois family walked back home, a new person stopped them on the road.

"Yo! Good show, my niggas!" said Otis Jenkins, the Pony Express rider from out of town.

"It wasn't really a show" stated Huey assertively. "Our granddad was almost lynched."

"I know but fo' real old man, you sure showed that ol' blind nigga."

"Thanks…" Robert replied slowly.

"That shit man, scared me outta doin' some bad shit man. I mean, I'm kinda broke but watching all that scared me from robbing any bank. I thought I was a thug who was magnificent but now I realize that I need to keep my job."

"Good" said Robert.

"Name's Otis" said Otis. "Otis Jenkins."

"Robert Freeman. These are my grandsons, Huey and Riley." Huey seemed to ignore Otis while Riley thought he was cool.

"I'm Tom" said Tom. Otis seemingly ignored Tom. "You know what Robert? Drinks are on us back at our place! You deserve it!"

"Well okay Tom. Looks we got friends here after all."

"Granddad, can Otis come too?" Riley asked. Otis made an "I'm hungry" gesture. Robert glanced over to Tom.

"Sure I guess" said Tom.

"Hell yeah!" yelled Otis.

Ed and Rummy suddenly appeared out of an alley.

"Yo. Drinking? Count us in" said Rummy. Tom nodded his head sadly. Huey wanted the celebration to be quiet but his desire didn't happen. Meanwhile, Riley enjoyed having his new friends to hang out. He was compelled to find Cindy but he knew that probably wasn't a good idea.

The Freemans, DuBois's, Ed, Rummy, and Otis Jenkins walked back to Tom's house together for celebration drinks. The Freemans felt that they were slowly finding their niche in the community.

Buck McPhearson had invited Uncle Ruckus over to his ramshackle ranch for a smoke. Ruckus gladly lit his pipe with a match Buck gave him.

"Congrats on lynching your first nigger" said Buck.

"Thank you Buck!" Ruckus replied. Buck had also invited Travis Walker's father, Andrew over and another man named Caleb Sullivan. Both men were prominent racists along with Buck and Ruckus.

"Reckon this town seems to get a new nigger too often now" said Caleb as he huffed out smoke.

"I concur" Buck said, his voice intoxicated with whiskey.

"Between them Freemans, that son of a bitch with the beautiful white wife, and now that Pony postal man nigger, this town's getting too many niggers."

"Very true" agreed Uncle Ruckus. "I'm still sort of adjusting to life out here. What are your thoughts on the Injuns?"

"We should get to go out and lynch 'em all" said Andrew. "Government sighed a treaty with them though so we can't touch 'em."

"Those are the reservation ones. The ones that live in town we can go after" said Caleb.

"I see" said Ruckus.

"Them wetbacks are annoying too. So are the yellow niggers" said Buck. "Yesterday, a yellow nigger accidently stepped on my foot so I threw him down and beat his ass right in front of his ugly yellow wife." All the men shared a laugh.

Inside Buck's shack, Cindy McPhearson and her younger brother hid in their bedrooms while their father drank with his friends. Their stepmother was asleep and pregnant. Cindy recalled learning in church to be a good Christian and she didn't like how her father did embody that life goal. She wanted to hang with her white friends and her colored friends.

Back outside, Buck brought up a serious question: "So Ruckus, you ever done dealt with cattle rustlers?"

"No I can't that I have, Buck." Buck narrowed his eyes.

"Well you just might. Word in the saloon today was that some ranch north of us but a little south of Salt Lake City was robbed of all their cattle. We might be next for all we know."

"Oh god Lord no! I bet it's niggas or Injuns."

"That's possible." Ruckus and the three white men gazed out at the wide open space beyond Buck's property. Cattle slept within the pastures.

"It's a big world out there" said Buck. "As much as thus here town has got nigger problems, them rustlers and Injuns will always be our biggest threat."

In the distance, they heard the faint howl of a coyote. What they didn't hear were the sounds of horse hooves beating the ground, about 28 miles north of Tumbleweedcrest.


	6. Chapter 6

1 week later:

Following the Stinkmeaner ordeal, the Freeman family attempted to readjust back to social norms, especially Robert. Nowadays, Robert obeyed every law he could think of. He asked Stinson for permission to take spare wood and whenever there was wagon traffic in the street, he let the whites have the right of way.

Meanwhile, Huey kept his word with his school teacher, Mr. Feng about Kung Fu lessons. Starting the Monday after Granddad's near-death experience, Mr. Feng pulled Huey aside during recess for a rundown on what he is to expect from Kung Fu lessons. Feng noted that Huey was already in great physical shape for his age and he possessed a strong mind. The next day, Feng taught Huey basic Kung Fu stances. He was going to teach Huey Shaolin Kung Fu. After nearly a week of stance and posture practice, Feng deemed Huey ready for kicking practice. Huey was to meet him behind the schoolhouse at sunrise that next Saturday morning. Huey complied.

That Saturday, Huey woke up, quickly fed and watered animals, and ran over to the schoolhouse. It was a nice cool morning. Feng greeted Huey with a ceremonial bow. Huey returned the favor.

"Take your shoes off. You will not need them" Feng instructed Huey.

After his shoes were removed from his feet, Huey said, "I'm ready."

"I know you are. Now, watch me do the motions and then you repeat them."

"All right."

Feng stood with his feet touching each other. Then, he stepped his right foot forward, raised it, and kicked in the air. "This is called the sidekick."

Huey stood, brought his lead right foot forward, raised his foot to the side, and kicked the air. He did this perfectly. Next, Feng showed him a roundhouse kick, hook kick, spinning hook kick, and a crescent kick. Some reviews on stance motions concluded that day's lesson. Huey was enthusiastic to get back to training as soon as possible.

On Monday, Mayor Wuncler announced a town holiday: mandatory town meeting with school being cancelled that day. At the town meeting outside the mayor's office, the Freemans found themselves in the way back of the crowd alongside Tom's family, Otis Jenkins, several Mexicans, several Indians, and several Chinese.

"People of Tumbleweedcrest! I have wonderful news! Gold has been discovered near the outskirts of our town!" The crowd erupted in cheers. "Yes! Our brave local prospectors, led by our very own, Howard Taggart, have found gold nuggets and grains of gold throughout the Tumbleweedcrest creek flats. In order to give everyone an opportunity to look for gold, families and/or prospect parties can travel out to the site one at a time. Starting today, you all can make an attempt to strike it rich! My grandfather, Ebenezer Wuncler made his fortune off of the cotton industry. I had a share of that before I moved out here, discovered gold in California, and oil elsewhere."

In the back of the crowd, Robert and Riley had put on their game faces. With big smiles on their faces and mouths gaped open, grinning, they were ready to hunt for gold. Huey on the other hand, sensed an oncoming spell of chaos from the chance for the entire town to mine for gold.

"Hell yeah Imma get that gold to make me a chain!" declared Riley.

"Yo nigga, I want in on that! Shinin' chains be my idea!" interjected Otis.

"Yeah boi! I'm getting' gold! I'm getting' gold cutie-pies!" sang Robert.

Later on, the Freemans were back at their ranch. Riley and Robert were finding everything they could possible need for an excursion to hunt for gold. They packed sifters, a stack of wooden planks, pots, pans, extra firewood, water jugs, salted meat, changes of clothes, practical mountain boots, a lantern, and bed sheets all into the wagon. While Riley and his grandfather enthusiastically packed nearly everything in sight, Huey was out back digging a hole. So far, he had dug to about 6 feet underground. He threw his shovel down and admired his work. In order to ensure that he didn't get stuck, Huey had tied a long rope around a nearby sturdy tree for him to pull himself out of the hole.

"What are you doing Huey?" Jazmine asked, peering down the hole at Huey. "Are you looking for buried treasure?"

"If you must know, I'm digging myself a dugout" Huey replied.

"What's that?"

"A dugout or earth lodge is a shelter made out of a depression underground. Most often, it appears as a house coming out from under the ground."

"So why are you building one?"

"Because Jazmine, gold fever may be upon us."

"'Gold fever'?! What the heck is that?! Is that dangerous? Does it kill you?!" Jazmine started shrieking.

"It's an expression for when greed for gold overwhelms and takes over a man and clouds his awareness for his well-being as well for those around him. Basically: people are going to start getting into fights over claims of gold and there could lots of chaos. But hey, it's a maybe. I'm building this merely as a precaution." Suddenly, Jazmine began to hyperventilate.

"We…. We…. We gotta take shelter! Dig faster Huey!" Jazmine screamed.

"'We'? Who said anything about 'we'? I'm building this shelter for myself and hopefully Granddad and Riley if I can get them to pull their heads out of their asses."

"But Huey, you have to let me hide in there too! I don't want to get gold fever!" Jazmine begged. "I thought we were friends!"

"The answer is no. Last time I checked, your family had a nice house." Huey got back to digging and ignored Jazmine completely.

Eventually, Jazmine left to go warn her parents about 'gold fever'. After 2 more hours of nearly non-stop digging, Huey pulled himself out of his newly finished dugout. "Phew. Now all I need is some lumber and this dugout will be good to go" Huey said.

As Huey began to contemplate where some lumber could be available, he heard Granddad calling.

"Huey! Get your ass to the wagon! We're heading out!"

"What?" Huey asked out loud.

"Nigga! Get yo' ass to the wagon!" yelled Riley. Sighing with animosity and frustration, Huey wandered back up front towards the wagon. He did bring his shovel with however.

"There you are" said Granddad. He and Riley sat up front with Robert controlling the oxen's reins. "Climb in. We're going out to the gold mines!"

"Already?" Huey asked.

"Hell yeah boy!"

"We gonna get all the shinin' gold!" declared Riley. "Imma make my gold chain all by myself!"

They had quite a wagon ride ahead of them. As the Freemans left the city limits behind, Huey saw that they weren't alone: dozens of covered wagons were heading south.

Later on during the wagon ride, the Freemans heard a voice calling to them.

"Aye yo niggas!" It was Otis Jenkins. The Freemans turned their heads to the left and found Otis alongside theur wagon on his horse. "Y'all going for gold?"

"Hell yeah!" replied Riley.

"Imma stay 'round here! Get me some gold! Go from rags to bitches, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah I hear it loud and clear" replied Riley. Hey rolled his eyes at Otis's behavior.

"Mind if I join up with y'all? We can split our claim, I promise" said Otis. Robert thought about this for seemingly a long and hard time.

"Please Granddad" begged Riley.

"Yeah Granddad" said Otis.

"Sure" said Robert. "I got two boys but you look like a strong able-bodied man too. We could use another hand."

"Awww yeah! Thanks old nigga!" said Otis.

With Otis Jenkins now with them for this adventure, Riley wondered if they would encounter Ed and Rummy sooner or later as well.

Finally, the Freemans and Otis came upon the entrance to the mining site. Mayor Wuncler had some Mexican workers build a wooden perimeter fence around the main tributary of the creek where gold was being found. Migrant and local folks were checking in to go search for and stake claims of gold.

"I heard that as many as 90 new people have arrived in town just for the gold" Robert said to his grandsons.

"Gold fever spreads like a wildfire, Granddad" said Huey. "I won't be long before greed overwhelms people's morals and they'll start turning on each other."

"Oh there you go again with some ol' philosophical bullshit" muttered Robert.

"Man! I don't care how many niggas get in my way! I'm getting me some gold!" declared Riley.

The perimeter fence the Freemans saw extended very far in either direction. As they edged closer, they suddenly realized that there was a road block coming up.

"Whoa!" Robert had the oxen brake abruptly. "What in the hell?!" The trail was blocked off with several old wagon wheels and logs.

"Not so fast niggas!" Ruckus stood, blocking the Freemans and Otis Jenkins from going further down the path. "You know the rules: richest white folks in town go first, then middle class white folks, poor white folks, and finally niggas. Wait your turn you conniving, marauding baboons!"

"Yo what the fuck is this bullshit?!" demanded Otis. "Eat a dick ya old ass nigga!" he yelled to Ruckus.

"Aye c'mon, this is some ol' bullshit!" Riley protested.

"Granddad, screw this. Let's just go home" suggested Huey.

"Boys! One of the reasons that we moved to this God-forsaken town was to get gold! I'm getting that gold no matter what! Even if the white man abuses my colored man temper!" Granddad stubbornly declared.

"That's right Robert. You niggas are all talk and no action. No wonder white men had to help y'all win the Civil War" joked Uncle Ruckus. The Freemans all scowled at Ruckus before making a slight U-Turn and headed towards a lot where a few other wagons were nestled. After parking the wagon, Robert took a swig from his flask of orange juice while Huey and Riley climbed off the wagon.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Huey and Riley turned to find Buck McPhearson staring at them. "Ruckus shoulda sent you niggers packing. That one-eyed sonabitch ain't that smart sometimes."

"Why are you here?" Huey asked.

"I'm here because my family's one of the poorest in this here town." The boys were not really expecting this revelation. "I want me some gold. Maybe I can retire a wealthy man and send my kids to college, away from you niggers."

"Boys who you talkin' to? Oh it's you" said Robert as he made his way over and acknowledged Buck.

"Robert Freeman, initially I thought only your grandsons needed to learn manners but now I reckon it's your whole damn family that does" Buck said coldly.

"Yo man, you insulting my crew?" Otis asked Buck as he walked over.

"Aw shit you again" Buck muttered at the sight of Otis Jenkins. "Shouldn't you be off delivering letters to colored folks elsewhere?"

"Man I took a leave of absence so that I can find me some gold! Imma get enough gold make me ride on 12 inch gold chrome nigga! Yo' bitch gonna be ride that chrome you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Stop" Buck snarled. He raised his fist in the direction of Otis's face. "I'm only playin' it nice 'cause my kids are around. If it was just you and me here, nigger I'd beat the shit outta you just for breathing where I breathe!"

"Oh whoa there man, er Sir." Buck stalked off back to his own camp.

"Damn what did I do to make that nigga so mad?" Otis asked Huey and Riley. Both boys merely rolled their eyes.

The sun was setting and the Freemans, Otis, and Buck's party still hadn't had access to the mining area. In order to make sure the blacks didn't sneak into the mining area, Uncle Ruckus had set up camp for the night to watch for any trespassers.

Sitting around a campfire, the Freemans and Otis attempted to stay warm. For dinner, they ate salted meat with cornmeal. Once it was dark outside, Otis revealed that he had a banjo and a harmonica.

"I'm a musician and an aspiring singer" he announced. "No white folks wanna hear me sing though."

He began playing his banjo. Riley tuned into Otis's music while Huey and Robert essentially tuned out.

"It's terrible in Terra Belle….. That's where I'm from. It's terrible in Terra Belle…. That's where I'm from. It's terrible in Terra Belle…. That's where I'm from…." Otis sang with a hint of techno tune to his voice. Riley began humming to the lyrics. Otis switched to harmonica and began playing the same song with a harmonic rhythm.

"Shut up niggers!" Buck McPhearson's voice boomed across the waiting lot to the Freemans' camp.

"Aye man! That you making music over there?" a voice called out. The Freemans and Otis turned to find two black men they'd never seen before walking up to their camp. The man who had spoken was bald and darker skinned than the other man and his arms appeared massive even in the dark. The second man was lighter skinned and he had long flowing hair and less of a massive build.

"Who wants to know?" Otis called back.

"We do nigga" the second man said. "Name's Mack."

"And I'm Derrick" said the bald, stronger man. "We're prospectors from California. We heard about the little gold rush in these parts."

"Well y'all probably ain't gonna get any yet" said Riley. "That nigga Uncle Ruckus has all us niggas locked outta the mines since this afternoon!"

"Ahhh yeah. We met that asshole too" replied Mack. "So what are all your names?"

"My name's Otis Jenkins and I'm a postal service guy but I'm a part-time musician looking to be a full-time musician. Edging for riding them hoes and stacks of paper, you know what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah loud and clear" said Derrick.

"My name is Robert Freeman and I am a Civil War veteran" Robert said proudly. Mack and Derrick appeared to buy into Robert's lie.

"Name's Huey" muttered an uninterested Huey.

"Yeah I'm Riley but I can tell y'all might be G's so you can call me Riley Escobar and/or Young Reezy!" said Riley.

Otis invited Mack and Derrick to sit down and the men complied. He learned that Mack and Derrick were amateur musicians too with Mack playing an accordion and Derrick playing both drums and bottle. After careful consideration, Otis said to Mack and Derrick: "Damn niggas we should form a band together! A group! No, a crew!"

"We're down for that" said Derrick.

"Alright we gonna call ourselves The Lethal Interjection Crew!" declared Otis.

Later, Huey had retired to the wagon where they had set up several cots. Riley soon joined him and the two of them heard Otis still converse with his "Lethal Interjection Crew". Soon enough, both boys fell asleep with Robert putting a blanket over them before turning in as well.

The next morning, Huey and Riley were woken up by a spray of water to their faces.

"Rise and shine boys." Through blurred and watered eyes, the boys found a female figure standing over them.

"Cindy?" Riley moaned.

"What are you doing here?" Huey asked Cindy suspiciously.

"My pa's out with the sheriff. Reckon you boys want a bright and early start?"

"Can we go looking for gold yet?" demanded Riley.

"'Fraid not. But we can go chew some."

"Chew what?" Huey and Riley followed Cindy McPhearson over to her family's camp which consisted a poorly attended pan hanging over a fire and a tent next to their wagon. Cindy brought out a metal can. In it was a black leafy substance.

"Ever chew some of this?" she asked, holding up a can of loose leaf tobacco.

"Reckon I haven't" said Riley. "Gimme some!" He grabbed a handful of the loose leaf.

"Chew it between your teeth and mouth and then spit it out" said Cindy. Riley did just this and he savored the taste of nicotine as he chewed and absorbed it. Huey quietly took a handful as well and chewed. They spat out the flavorless piece once they were finished. Finding a log to sit on, the three children sat chewed tobacco for at least 20 minutes.

"My pa doesn't want me or my brother near y'all" said Cindy.

"We know that" said Huey.

"He beat me that day after school" Cindy said slowly. "He whipped me…"

"I'm sorry" Huey said.

"Man that's some ol' bullshit!" said Riley.

"Imma head back. Take one last handful if ya want but I gotta take the can back." Huey and Riley each took another small handful of tobacco before Cindy closed the can and headed quietly back to her camp.

Huey and Riley returned to their camp and found Robert awake.

"Where'd you get the tobacco boys?" Robert asked. Riley didn't know what to say.

Huey said, "Someone left a can unattended nearby. We took what was left."

"That's all that left?! Gimme that!" Robert yanked the stashes of tobacco from both boys' hands.

"Aye Granddad we was gonna chew that!" Riley protested. Robert simply began chewing tobacco happily.

"Too bad boy!"

"Yo niggas!" Otis came running up excitedly to the Freemans. "Yo guys they letting us in!" Robert enthusiastically spat out the tobacco and threw the remaining leaves on the ground before hurrying to the wagon to pack up camp along with Huey and Riley. In a short while, the Freemans along with Otis's new group find themselves at the near front of the line behind the poor white wagon groups.

"Alright! Move it along white folks! Get in there quickly before them filthy monkeys catch up to you and your families!" Uncle Ruckus yelled to the white family wagons passing through the gates. He was holding up all the black wagon trains in order to give the poor white people a head start. After the last white wagon of poor white people made it through, Ruckus shut the gate, waited nearly an hour before finally opening the gate. Because he had wasted time and tested the limits to the black prospectors' patience, he was nearly run over when he opened the gates.

Robert had the oxen pull the wagon to a quaint vacant spot on the edge of the river, far off from the white prospectors. Robert had the oxen come to a complete stop. "Boys! Let's build that sluice! Hurry!" Huey and Riley grabbed the cluster of wooden planks and met Robert outside. In a short time, the Freemans had constructed a sloping wooden structure that trapped mineral particles behind a thick layer of carpet while the water flowed freely out. Each Freeman took a bucket and a sifter. The sifters were pan-like objects with tiny holes that allowed water to escape but trapped mud and gold particles. After they established their presence, the Freemans hurried to the river. First, they tried the sifters and all 3 of them came up with nothing but water. Next, they tried buckets. They each poured a bucket of water through the sluice. After Robert's and Riley's loads came up short, Huey poured his water. To their surprise, a piece of gold the size of a piece of rice was found. Robert greedily captured the tiny treasure in his hand and stored it in a wooden box in the wagon.

After an hour of sifting and pouring, the Freemans hadn't found any more gold. Growing restless and impatient, Robert resorted to pulling out the shovels he had also packed. "We'll dig up the whole damn riverbed if we have to!" he declared. "Riley, you keep pouring water down that sluice. Huey, you take a shovel and start shoving shit into the sluice!" Robert ordered his grandsons.

Elsewhere, Otis Jenkins and his new friends Mack and Derrick were down on their luck, having found nothing so far. They had set up shop near a small sheer cliff a ways from the river. They had found several chunky pieces of what they perceived to be "useless ol' rocks'. Rather than keep them, the three men tossed them aside. Unbeknownst to them, they had found uranium and had deemed it useless. Buck's family somehow had recovered two decently large nuggets of gold from a deep puddle adjacent to the creek.

After an hour of coming with nothing once again, Huey and Riley switched jobs. Huey was now pouring random buckets of water through the sifting sluice while Riley dug into the riverbed with the shovel. While Huey worked at a fast pace in an effort to hopefully go home sooner, Riley also worked at a fast pace but intended to stay as long as possible. As he dug up yet another load of mud, a roundish object caught Riley's eye. Brushing some of the mud away, Riley saw that the object gleamed. "Damn…." Riley said.

"Boy, what you got there?" Robert inquired. Robert threw his shovel down and rushed over to Riley. Huey came over as well.

"I think that's gold quartz" said Huey, feeling the object in his hand. "I heard it mentioned in a chemistry lesson at school."

"That means it's gold!" declared Riley with excitement.

"It's technically quartz…"

"Nigga! I don't care 'bout your science shit!" Riley began parading his find around.

While Robert and Huey got back to work, Riley took a bathroom break. He found a suitable and secluded place near dune of dirt and rocks far from the creek. When he was finished, he proudly waved the gold quartz with pride. Just as he was crossing over a hill, Riley was knocked lob side the head and collapsed. A dark shadow loomed over him before the large and wide figure took the gold quartz from Riley's hand. When Riley came to, he realized that his gold quartz was gone.

"Granddad!" Riley cried as he sprinted back to his family's worksite. "Some nigga jacked my gold!"

"What?!" demanded Robert. "And that was _ours_ , not yours!"

"It's gone Granddad! Now Imma look like a faggot with nothing to make ma chain with" Riley spat.

"Boy! Shut up and get back to work!" ordered Robert. "Why don't you quit your yapping and try looking for more gold?"

"Fine" Riley sighed. The prospecting resumed for the Freemans.

What they lost in gold, they made up for in luck. Another hour went by and they had found three decently sized nuggets of gold. The biggest one was about the size of a football.

"We're gonna be rich boys!" declared Robert. Later, Huey recovered 15 tiny pieces of gold in his sifting pan.

Around 6:00 at night, the Freemans decided to cease work for the day. Riley moped; he grieved the loss of his gold quartz. Prior to stopping, they had accidentally caught 3 decently sized salmon, no doubt far from home. They had some gold and they now had dinner.

During dinner, Huey said to Riley, "You do realize that with this gold, you can make a chain?"

"Yeah I know" Riley muttered. "I want that other thing back though nigga! It was mine."

In a camp around 50 yards away, Buck McPhearson had retired to his tent after a long hard day of work. His son Zeke was already catching some sleep. Buck's new wife was holding down the fort back home. After she chewed some more tobacco, Cindy McPhearson decided to go see how her black friends were doing. She remembered where the Freemans' camp was.

As Huey and Riley at the campfire awaiting some grilled fish, they heard approaching footsteps.

"Wassup homies" Cindy said, strolling into their camp. "How's the gold digging treating y'all?"

"Decent for the most part" Huey casually replied, eyeing Cindy while thinking about the latter's father.

"Well, what brings you here little baby?" Robert said to Cindy.

"Just visiting" she said. "My pa's asleep too."

"Some nigga jacked dis gold quartz I found!" Riley yelled at Cindy. "They knocked me out too! Did you take it?!"

"Man, I ain't above stealin', but I would never steal from a friend" Cindy said honestly. "Maybe your gold got stolen by Butch Magnus."

"Who's that?" asked Huey.

"He's a big fat boy who lives out of town on a shitty farm. His family's too poor for him to go to school so he just mopes around and does farm work."

"Awww hell no! Ain't no fat kid gonna try and take Young Reezy's gold!" declared Riley. "Where does this bitch ass nigga live?!"

"Can't say I know where his house is but he's probably got a camp up in here with his folks" replied Cindy. "Just keep your eyes open for a big fat red haired kid. Ya can't miss him. He's gonna fight ya for the gold. He's a tough sonofabitch."

"Pshhh fuck that faggot" muttered Riley.

"I'd try over by where more of the white folks are holed up. Be careful though. My pa's friends are out there too and they can be dangerous."

"Aight. Thanks for the head's up."

"Anytime boy. Good luck." Cindy patted Riley on the shoulder before heading back to her father's camp.

After Cindy left, Riley told Huey: "Imma go after Bitch Magnus tomorrow morning!"

"Riley are you sure going after a _white_ kid is a good idea? Reckon you're gonna get yourself killed" sighed Huey. "Face it, the judicial system's rigged around here. The whites always win."

"Huey, I gotta do this. Dat nigga's gotta pay what he owes!" declared Riley.

"Let the boy do what he wants, Huey" said Robert. "It's a new age. It was one thing for me back in the day to try and fight but I'd get beaten and whipped or even killed. Nowadays, negroes just get beaten or killed but they're free and not slaves."

"That ain't much of a difference Granddad" said Huey. Riley seemed to understand his grandfather's words.

"Imma go first thing in the morning" announced Riley.

"Alright boy, I'll let you go" Robert informed Riley. "But, if any white person catches you sneaking around, I want you to tell them something. Tell them that you're fetching water for some white folks. White folks ten to shrug off any negro who's being some white person's bitch."

"He's got a point" said Huey.

"Aight. Sounds gay though" sighed Riley.

It was dawn. As the sun creeped its way up into the sky, young Riley Freeman creeped his way out of his camp and towards the area where most of the white people had set up camp. As much as he declared himself a gangster from Chicago looking for new territory, Riley approached this operation with some delicate caution. His plan was that if any white adults were coming, he'd bolt back to his camp immediately. To him, the white children weren't that intimidating; it was the adults he was worried most about.

He arrived in the general area where white folks were making camp. Every tent or wagon he passed, he tried to get a peek inside, figuring that Butch Magnus would be large enough to see from a distance. Every tent he peeked in so far had no sigh of Butch. All he saw were white families sleeping, some guy drinking whiskey, a couple men playing cards, some woman feeding a baby, two teenage girls boiling water outside their tent, and some old guy playing a banjo. He also passed what he thought was the McPhearsons' camp as he saw what appeared to be Buck in his tent snoring loudly. Buck had a double barrel shotgun at his side.

Eventually, Riley happened upon a very large tent that looked shittier than all the other tents he had seen previously. It even looked shittier than his family's own tent and wagon. He remembered Cindy saying Butch lived in a shitty farmhouse. Riley edged a little closer. The outside perimeter of the camp was deserted, its occupants still asleep inside the tent. Riley peeked inside the tent. Sure enough, a large mass in the form of an obese preteen, red-haired boy was asleep on a cot near the mouth of the tent. Riley saw what appeared to be Butch's mother and father, a large red haired man and woman who were fat but not as fat as Butch. He also noticed several little kids who congregated near the parents like little piglets. Riley took another look at Butch. The boy had on a plain white shirt with brown overall pants. Suddenly, something caught Riley's eye: his gold quartz lay at Butch's bedside, glistening in the morning sunlight. Wasting no time, Riley reached inside the tent and quickly swiped the gold quartz and pocketed it. He almost blurted out "hell yeah nigga!" but he stopped himself just in time. Back outside, he backed away from the tent slowly, turned around, and began jogging lightly towards his camp, before picking up the pace.

Riley had opted to take a slower way back to camp. He was going around the various campsites. As he ran, a voice suddenly called out to him.

"Give me back my quartz ya little nigger!" a rough juvenile voice bellowed. Riley stopped dead in his tracks. He turned and found Butch Magnus staring right at him. "You can't steal my stuff! I'm Butch Magnus!" Butch Magnus yelled at Riley.

"You better fall back nigga!" Riley yelled back. "I'll give you dat sneak attack yesterday but let's see how you do fightin' a nigga straight up!"

"You're gonna give me my quartz back!" Butch declared with a shout. "Imma beat your ass then my daddy's gonna beat your ass!" Starting with a slight waddle, Butch began charging towards Riley. As he neared Riley, Butch had his both his fists up and ready. Riley stepped to the left just in time, stuck his foot out, and caused Butch to trip.

"Bitch you trippin'! Literally!" Riley taunted. Growling, Butch pulled himself off the ground and faced Riley. He ,made another attempt at a punch but Riley dodged it. Then, Riley was caught off guard by a low blow punch the struck him in his lower stomach. Riley fell to the ground, breathing heavily. As Butch loomed over him, Riley mustered enough strength to pull himself together. He stood back up and attempted to charge Butch head-on. Butch was ready as he raised both his arms up in the air and clobbered Riley's back with his fists. Riley fell back to the ground. Wiping some blood off his lip, Riley got up once more and threw several punches into Butch's stomach but his attacks were to no avail as Butch was far too bulky. Before Butch tried to clobber him to the ground again, Riley retreated back with Butch following. Riley jumped over a small hole. As Butch followed, he attempted to swing another punch at Riley but missed. Butch didn't notice the hole as his boot slipped in it and he tripped and fell but landed with both feet out of the hole.

"Ahhhhh! My ankle!" cried Butch.

"That's what you get nigga!" Riley yelled.

"I think I twisted it!" yelled Butch. "Look, you can have your stupid quartz! Just go get my dad!" Just as Riley was about to reply with something rude, both he and Butch heard hissing. Both boys turned and found a Gila Monster, a venomous black and orange lizard, peeking out of its burrow: the very same hole that Butch had tripped in just moments ago. The lizard stared at Butch Magnus through black, beady eyes. As Butch tried to scoot away from the lizard's vicinity, the animal struck. The lizard's seemingly jawless mouth clamped down on Butch's left ankle. The Gila Monster had a strong bite, penetrating Butch's pants and injecting venom.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" screamed Butch.

"Oh shit!" cried Riley. He jumped back away from the Gila Monster. Butch writhed in pain and agony on the ground. Satisfied, the Gila Monster scurried back down into its burrow.

"Hey! Get my parents! Don't leave me here" Butch begged to Riley. Butch seemed to be growing weak.

"I…. I…. No" Riley said. He turned and left Butch lying on the ground and awaiting his fate.

"You fucking nigger! Ahhhhhh! Ow!" Butch yelled to Riley. Riley shut Butch out and walked back to his family's camp.

After Riley had left camp, Huey and Robert had woken up, ate breakfast, and started working again. With everything they had dug up, they opted to move up along the riverbed. Starting out 10 feet from where they mined yesterday, they gradually worked their way to the right. They found many tiny pieces of gold but couldn't find any nuggets. As they worked without Riley, they were unaware that Buck McPhearson was attempting to move down along the riverbed. Buck had decided to see if any gold could be found to the left of his camp. As he, Cindy, and Zeke worked, they gradually edged closer to the Freemans unknowingly. It didn't occur to either Robert or Buck until their respective parties nearly bumped into each other.

Meanwhile, Riley avoided all the other tents and camps. As he headed up a hill, he realized that his somewhat beaten and disheveled appearance could draw suspicion. He wasn't sure what to do. As he made his way into camp, he heard yelling.

"How dare y'all try to take gold from a white man!" Buck McPhearson yelled at Robert Freeman.

"We didn't take nothing! We were here first" argued Robert. Riley noticed that both respective families had moved away from their camps and seemed to have met on the riverbank.

"Get the fuck outta here niggers!" Buck yelled. Riley noticed Huey standing next to Robert while Cindy and Zeke were standing by their father. Riley edged his way over to his brother and grandfather.

"You got your quartz back?" Huey whispered.

"What the hell's this?" demanded Riley.

"The usual" Huey muttered.

"You damn niggers can't fight me! Not anyone in this town!" Buck yelled.

"Pa, can't we just leave them alone?" Cindy spoke up to her father.

"No! They're trying to take our claim!" Buck argued.

"We're not doing anything!" argued Huey. We both were just in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

Buck stalked closer to Robert Freeman until they were eye to eye. Cindy followed cautiously while Zeke lingered. Buck stared at Robert and then he spat in the old man's face.

"Hey what the hell?!" demanded Robert. Just as he wiped the spit out of his face, Buck punched Robert right in the face, sending the man toppling to the ground.

"Granddad!" both Huey and Riley screamed.

"Mr. Freeman!" cried Cindy.

Riley attempted to run at Buck but Huey pulled him back. Huey and Riley scrambled to help Robert up. Cindy ran over and provided a third helping hand. Together, the three kids pulled the bewildered Robert Freeman up to his feet.

What the fuck did you just do?!" Buck demanded to Cindy. Cindy stepped back from the Freemans sheepishly. "I didn't want you anywhere near them niggers!"

"Pa…."

"She was just helping" said Robert. "Something you clearly don't understand!"

"We only worked together" said Huey. "Why can't we just put this all aside and go on with our lives?"

"Hell no! I outta report y'all to Ruckus!" spat Buck. "Cindy, you get back over right now. I don't wanna have to whip you 'gain!" Cindy gulped and made her way back to her father. "Don't you got somethin' ya wanna say to them?" Buck asked his daughter. He grabbed her with one hand.

"Wh…what?" Buck raised his massive fist to Cindy's face.

"C'mon! Just like I told you!" Buck's blue eyes gleamed with venomous hatred. Cindy let out a sniffle before turning to the Freemans.

"Get…. Get outta here niggers" she said.

"That's my girl" said Buck. Cindy then broke from her father's grasp and ran away from him, leaving a disgusted Huey and Riley. Zeke followed his sister back to their camp. Buck acknowledged the Freemans once again. "Y'all outta just leave. Go back to the ghettos and cotton fields where y'all belong." After Buck said this, everyone heard the sound of an approaching horse.

 _(Uncle Ruckus theme)._ "What's with all the noise? Buck, are these niggas annoying you and your family?" asked Sheriff Uncle Ruckus.

"Actually, yes. Them niggers are trying to steal my claim of gold!"

"We didn't!" said Robert. "Our families were working along the river and we bumped into one another!"

"They wanna steal our claims!" argued Buck.

"Well I'm sure this can be sorted out" said Ruckus. "Didn't y'all hear? Mayor Wuncler wants 65% of your gold findings for himself."

"What?! That's like sharecropping!" protested Huey.

"Us too?" asked Buck.

"I'm afraid so. Poor white folks and poor monkeys have to pay to Mayor Wuncler."

"Well okay then" muttered Buck. Ruckus changed the subject.

"Buck, we got bigger news. A boy has been found dead near the outskirts of the gold site. Got killed by a Gila Monster bite by the looks of it." Riley froze as Ruckus said this.

"Awwww son of a bitch!" muttered Buck.

"It was that Magnus boy."

"Awww shit. You need me or somethin'?"

"Yes…"

"Alright." Buck turned to the Freemans. "You niggers got lucky this time" he said. "My girl's got more balls than both you little niggers combined!" he said to Huey and Riley. Buck then climbed onto Ruckus's horse and they headed towards where Butch Magnus was being kept. Now alone, the Freemans headed back to their own camp.

"We need to get a good portion of our gold ready for donation to Wuncler" Robert sighed.

"Dis is some ol' bullshit!" Riley protested.

"I know boy…."

"Are you all right Granddad?" Huey asked.

"Yeah… I think so. That Buck packs a tough left hook. Maybe you were right about that gold fever getting to folks."

"Granddad, that guy abuses his children. I can tell" said Huey. "Both Cindy and her brother look terrified of him. I told you gold fever was going to take over people, even the most racist and reckless."

"There's not much we can do, boy" replied Robert. He turned to Riley. "I know that little girl is you friend. I know she didn't mean what she said. She said it out of force pretty much."

"Yeah I get it" Riley sighed. While Robert got the gold for donation to Wuncler ready, Huey and Riley dismantled the sluice and put all their prospecting supplies back in the wagon. While Huey put away the shovels, Riley dug around in the creek one last time. Suddenly, he leaned too far and fell in. Luckily, the creek wasn't very deep as the water went up to Riley's waist. He felt himself land on some rock. He felt around on the bottom and found that said rock. He pulled it out of the water, and to his surprise, it was a gold nugget the size of a grown man's hand. "Holy shit!" Riley cried.

"How'd we miss that?" Huey said, noticing the nugget.

"Damn!" Robert cried as he saw the nugget in Riley's hand. He analyzed it for authenticity. "Alright boys, new plan: we hide this, give Wuncler some of the smaller and shittier pieces of gold and maybe Riley's quartz. I'll mark this spot on a map if we ever want to come back. Deal?"

"Deal" said Huey.

"Nope! I want my gold quartz Granddad!" protested Riley.

"Boy, we have to give it to Wuncler. Besides, with that huge ass nugget alone, we good buy chickens, groceries, and maybe even more livestock. We'll be set!"

"Granddad's right, Riley" said Huey.

"Hand over the quartz, boy" said Robert.

"How did you get it back by the way?" Huey asked somewhat suspiciously. "According to Ruckus, that Butch kid died."

"I….. I took it from his tent while was sleeping" said Riley. "Nigga didn't even see me!" Huey and Robert seemed to buy Riley's story. He didn't want word of the fight and his role in Butch's demise to get out.

After they packed everything up, the Freemans opted to head back to their homestead with their secret and precious treasure.


	7. Chapter 7: Preview

Hey Fanfiction goers, it's been a while. I apologize for having not updated any of my stories in at least a month, specifically The Boondocks in the Wild West. Some of you assumed I was in school and you guessed correct. School, homework, and Air Force ROTC has taken up loads of my free time. I felt like I had all the time in the world during summer break. However, I aim to use the weekends to keep writing my stories whenever I get the chance.

I wanted to give a preview for what's in store for chapter 7 of The Boondocks on the Wild West. I will narrate a few key scenes, sort of like a trailer for a TV episode.

1\. Scene of cattle being stolen by unseen people.

2\. Mayor Wuncler declaring: "Any colored man caught stealing cattle from a white man shall be punished... by death!"

3\. Huey, Riley, and Jazmine smoking cigars on the outskirts. Cuts to Huey and Riley walking by railroad tracks. A steam engine chugs by and the white passengers throw things at them from the windows.

4\. Huey and Riley making their way to the Navajo encampment near their town. They intend to meet the Indians.

5\. 3 white men arrive at Sheriff Uncle Ruckus's office. They're introduced as his new deputes. And they are Civil War veterans who fought for the Confederacy.

6\. Townspeople declaring that the Indians are responsible for a series of cattle rustlings.

7\. Buck leads several white men to the outskirts of the Navajo encampment and they rig dynamite near a tepee.


	8. Chapter 7 (full)

Using their claimed and secret prize of gold, the Freemans managed to buy themselves chickens in order to have fresh eggs. They didn't buy a few chickens. They bought 10 and bought a coop to house them in. Their successful business venture came with a price. In order to pay for the chickens, Robert had to chip off a portion of the gold nugget in order to give the banker the appropriate amount of gold to be translated into money. Now, their gold nugget sat under Robert's bed wrapped in an extra blanket, now just three quarters of its initial size. The chicken purchase was carried out in the days following the Freemans' excursion to the gold mining area. In the meantime, Tumbleweedcrest quieted down as prospectors from out of town staked their claims, mined, and left with what they could find, doubtful that they'd return unless more gold was discovered. As activities seemingly calmed down in the general Tumbleweedcrest area, little did local residents realize that things were going to be taken up a notch.

One night, past the school house, past the local feed station, and past the trading post, was a pasture of long-horned cattle. These particular cattle belonged to Mayor Wuncler. They were some of his most prized cattle, perfect for slaughter. As the cattle mindlessly slept standing up, they were oblivious to the sounds of horse hooves beating the ground. A brigade of men from outside of town charged towards the fenced pasture. The troop of men stopped and halted their horses about 5 yards from the pasture. The man in the lead was a six-foot six man who weighed 300 lbs of pure muscle. He stepped towards the pasture and grinned at the sight of the cattle. There had to be 200 potential piles of beef packed into that pasture. Wasting no time, the man pulled out a kettle bell and a stick. He began ringing the cattle bell by striking it with the stick. "Rise and shine" he murmured to the cattle as the beasts slowly opened their droopy eyes. Two of the man's subordinates got the gates of the pasture open. The lead man took a few steps closer to the pasture so that the cattle could listen to the bell better. One by one, the cattle began to wander aimlessly towards the clanging of the kettle bell. As the cattle filed out, the man ringing the kettle bell climbed back onto his thick black horse and got the horse moving. The horse moved slowly in order to match the cattle's walking speed as the latter animals followed the man out of the pasture and over a hill and away from Tumbleweedcrest's outskirts. The other men of the group rode on their own horses and weaved their way through the sea of cattle in order to maintain control. Soon there was no trace of the men or the stolen cattle except for masses of foot and hoofprints.

Shiye Santiago, Huey Freeman's Navajo Indian friend was out for a nightly stroll. On the outskirts of Tumbleweedcrest, he breathed in the cool, fresh nighttime air. Putting the presence of the settlers aside, the territory still supported his people's presence. It had for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the white men. Shiye believed what his former chief said. That no one could take away the land completely. This land belonged to the Navajo.

Shiye was well aware that he nearing some of the white man's cattle pastures. Ranchers in these parts were very protective of their cattle; Mayor Wuncler's cattle to be specific. As he passed a seemingly vacant and empty pasture, Shiye grew suspicious. This pen housed some of Wuncler's most prized cattle: long-horned cattle. As he passed by, he heard commotion from within the ranch house on the property. He saw several figures rush outside.

"All the cattle are gone!" One voice, a man's yelled.

"What in the hell?!" yelled another man

"I see a guy near the fence!" a third man yelled. Shiye froze.

"Get him!" the first man bellowed. Still frozen in fear, Shiye managed to get his feet moving. His frightened jog quickly became an all-out sprint but the ranchers were gaining on him. As he sprinted, Shiye lost his footing on a rock. He slipped, fell, and twisted his right ankle. As he cried out on the ground, the three men caught up with him. One of them tackled Shiye as he attempted to stand up. Gasping for breath and gasping in fear, Shiye stared face to face with a mustached Caucasian man.

"Son of a bitch! It's an Injun!" he yelled, looking down at Shiye. The first man who spoke stepped forward, shoved Shiye's captor aside, and grabbed Shiye by his neck.

"Where'd all our cattle go, redskin?!" he yelled, spitting into Shiye's eyes. "Did your damn buffalo jockeys done come in here and take 'em away? Answer me damn you!"

"It... wasn't me..." Shiye chocked.

"You were the only person we saw outside!" the third man argued.

"He's damn lucky he ain't a nigger" remarked the second rancher.

"Oh no, Injun or nigger, he still knows what's coming!" declared the first man. He let go of Shiye, stepped a foot on the poor young ,man's chest, opened his mouth, gargled, and allowed saliva to ooze onto Shiyes face. "Those were cattle from Mayor Wuncler. In fact, those were his most prized cattle."

"Mayor Wuncler ain't gonna like this" the third man said.

The lead man produced a lasso.

"Let's tie him up and bring him downtown. Bring him to Wuncler and Ruckus."

"Please! Nooooo!" Shiye protested. The next thing Shiye knew, he was hit once again and blacked out this time.

Under the cover of night, the ranchers dragged the unconscious Navajo boy into town. Right as they approached the Sherriff's office, three new men stopped them.

"What's this you got here?" asked the first man. He was a redhead who had a thick Southern accent.

"Caught this Injun sneakin' around. Pretty sure he was stealing Wuncler cattle" said the lead rancher.

"Well I'll be, looks we got ourselves our first convict, boys!" the redheaded man said to his cohorts. "And we just rode in a few hours ago."

"Who're you guys?" the ranchers asked.

"Name's Levi Grimes. This here's Henry Duval and Camden Crowell. We're your town's new deputies."

"Y'all southern?" asked Skidmore, another rancher.

"Yep. We served under Robert E. Lee during the war." The ranchers seemed to nod with respect at the men's credentials.

"We'll take the Injun off your hands" said Duval as he Crowell grabbed up Shiye. They dragged him over to the Sheriff's Office.

"Y'all have a good night" Grimes said to the ranchers as he shut the door in the faces. Ruckus went home for the night and he had left the Confederate veterans in charge of the office. The poor, hapless Shiye was now left to the mercy of these ex-Confederate soldiers.

In an attempt to cut their losses, Huey tried several times to convince his grandfather that selling a portion of the chickens' eggs at the local market could generate slightly more money coming their way.

"Hell no boy" Robert Freeman said, shaking his head after Huey once again conjured up the idea of selling eggs.

"But Granddad, we need more money" countered Huey. "What if we were to end up in debt?" **(Author: Get the reference?)**

"Boy, ain't no white man with common sense gonna buy anything from some negroes" Robert said. "Besides, we have gold! Now all I need are naked cutey pies"

"What are you going to do if Mayor Wuncler or Ruckus finds that gold and confiscates it? What are you going to do if it breaks or you lose it? Anytime is a perfect time open up a venture." Robert Freeman simply ignored Huey and retired to his bedroom. Huey paced around the kitchen before checking their egg availability. They currently had 15 eggs. 10 from a new batch and 5 from a leftover batch.

"I'll sell some of dem eggs" Riley Freeman said to his older brother as he stomped into the kitchen. "I can sell 'em to kids and we can all throw eggs at Mrs. Von Hausen!" Riley joked, referring to a mean old white woman who lived nearby.

When Robert Freeman went outside to use the outhouse, Riley seized the opportunity to grab up all the eggs and ran out the door with them towards town. Huey came into the kitchen right as Riley was getting away.

"You really think they gonna buy eggs from a nigger peddler?" Huey called after his brother.

"Aye man, they better!" Riley yelled back.

Huey just rolled his eyes. Initially uncaring and neglectful, Huey decided to walk quickly in Riley direction to make sure he doesn't do or say anything stupid to the white people in town.

Riley made it into Tumbleweedcrest's town square pretty easily and without really a care in the world. As he skimmed his surroundings for a place to set up shop, he found Huey trailing behind him. "Aye man find yo' own shit to sell!" Riley spat to his brother.

"I'm not here to sell anything" said Huey. Just when he was going to continue his rant, Huey stopped midsentence. He was frozen in fear and looking at something close by. It was a ghastly sight to behold.

Riley saw it a few seconds after Huey did. Riley gaped at the sight.

There was Shiye Santiago; what once was Shiye was hanging from a tight noose connected to the town gallows. The poor young man's eyes were still slightly opened and his mouth gaped open with his dried up tongue hanging limp. The body looked fresh.

Underneath Shiye's corpse, hung a painted sign that read:

"ALL SCHEMING INJUNS PUNISHED BY DEATH HERE."

"We know that nigga…" Riley said slowly. It was one thing when it was a mean old guy like Stinkmeaner was dead and hanged but a teenager…. That was a whole new level for Riley.

"How did the happen?" Huey wondered aloud. He looked around at townspeople that walked by the lynching site. They were oblivious; completely ignoring the fact that a dead boy hanged before them.

 _Uncle Ruckus theme._

"Hehahaha! Someday that might be you little niggas!" laughed Sheriff Uncle Ruckus. Ruckus had casually crept up behind the Freeman boys.

"Ruckus! Did you do this?!" demanded Huey.

"That was all my deputies!" Ruckus said. "They said some ranchers brought that Injun into town, decided they was gonna lynch him, so naturally, I let 'em. Heard he was caught trying to steal cattle."

When Huey first met Shiye Santiago, he perceived the latter to be a nice young man who was honest; Huey couldn't picture Shiye to be a ruthless cattle rustler.

"I reckon I heard that Injun tried beating up the white man who restrained him" said Earl Kearny, a local plumber and drunk. He was also a friend of Ruckus. Kearny stumbled over to Shiye's hanging corpse and spat on it. "That's what that useless, ugly Injun gets! I bet you niggers dollars to donuts that Injun's whole damn tribe was in on stealing Mayor Wuncler's cattle!" Huey and Riley decided that that was their cue to leave.

The boys wandered back towards home, not selling a single egg. As they neared the edge of town square, Huey caught three men whom he'd never seen before flip him and his brother off. Huey looked back and noticed that the men were wearing remnants of old Confederate Army uniforms. But, they also had gold sheriff's deputy badges pinned to their chests too.

"Riley, Shiye obviously didn't do this. He must've been falsely accused or he was in the wrong place at the wrong time" Huey said.

"Yeah? How we gonna prove that? We don't speak Injun. We don't know no Injuns neither. The only Injun we did know is dead now, nigga."

"We can meet some. I know where we can meet more Indians" declared Huey. "We'll have to go out to the Navajo reservation site. That's where Shiye said he used to live. Maybe there will be Indians there that knew him."

"Go out to Injun lands?! Nigga you can't be serious!" protested Riley. As the Freemans boys took a seat by the railroad tracks, a steam engine was slowly approaching.

"We got stuff to do here —"

"Hey niggers!" hollered an anonymous male voice. Huey and Riley looked to see several angry white faces, male and female, glaring down at them from windows of the steam engine rushing by. Suddenly, various items ranging from children's toys to pieces of bread began raining down at the Freeman boys. Huey ducked and covered as a yo-yo almost struck him the eye. Riley managed to catch a few pieces of bread. "That's what y'all niggers get!"

"Eat shit niggers!" another person, a woman yelled. She threw what appeared to be a cup. The cup sailed through the air and narrowly missed Riley's skull. However, the coffee contained in that cup managed to rain down on him.

Soon enough, the train passed and the screaming people onboard were out of Huey's and Riley's vicinity.

"I think those are the same kind of people who shoot bison from trains" said Huey.

Dusting themselves off, the boys headed for home.

"I think I know a good time to visit the Navajo" said Huey.

"When?"

"Let's go this Sunday. We'll ditch Mormon Church. I've been meaning to ditch church for a while now too." (All town residents were _highly encouraged_ to go to the local Church of Latter Day Saints every Sunday).

"Okay, that's fair" replied Riley. "We don't tell Granddad 'bout this right?"

"Correct."

That Sunday, the Freeman boys trudged to church with Robert in their church clothes. Secretly, they had stowed changes of clothes in their wagon. Right before service began, the boys went to go "use the outhouse." They never returned. Luckily for them, Robert began falling asleep during service as soon as the boys left.

As they made their exit, Jazmine noticed them from where she was sitting with her parents. She started to stand up but Huey and Riley gave her a very disdainful "sit your ass down" look and Jazmine sat down with a look of melancholy on her face.

Outside, Huey and Riley changed back into their ranch hand clothes in record time.

"Can we take the wagon?" Riley asked.

"No. If we take it, Granddad will know we ran away. Leave the wagon here."

"How about a horse?"

"Leave the horses behind too. If things don't go as planned out there, I don't want the Indians to kill any of our horses."

"Or us."

"Yeah, or us" Huey said. "We're going on foot."

Riley complained for the first half hour until he started losing his voice. By that point, the boys had put a decent 2 miles between themselves and Tumbleweedcrest. Sand began turning into rocky terrain. Riley had foolishly drunk half the water he had in the personal canteen he brought with. Huey's canteen was about 80% full still.

Another hour went by. At this point, they were traversing through piles of boulders. They came across the remains of a campsite. Only a campfire with a few embers remained; there were no personal items so the boys couldn't tell if the campfire had belonged to Indians or white settlers.

A little while later, Riley noticed that Huey seemed to be peering at something in the distance.

Huey stopped dead in his tracks, shoved himself against a rock, and pulled Riley behind him. Huey pointed to a hill about 60 feet away. "Look up there" he said. He and Riley caught a glimpse of an anonymous, tall figure standing still on top of the hill. The man seemed to be watching them. "I think that's an Indian. He's probably been watching us. We should stay quiet because he might alert his fellow tribesman."

"Hey you up there! Is you an Indian?! Say somethin' Indian! You deaf, nigga?! Say somethin'!"

"Riley, quiet!" Huey shouted.

"Approach me, black-faces" the man boomed.

"Ohhhhhh shit!" cried Riley. He and Huey cautiously moved forward towards the awaiting Indian. Now, they were 20 feet from the hill that the Indian stood on. They could see the Indian in full view now. He was definitely Navajo; his loose-fitting long-sleeved shirt with a traditional blanket with woven beads, and his moccasins gave it away. He had a head of longish black hair with a bandanna and a face with a large nose and a piercing, squinted glare. Radiant sunbeams shined on his red skin.

"Leave this place! You are trespassing on the holy site of the Navajo Indians! If you do not leave, the spirits of our forefathers will haunt you forever!"

"Please, we mean no harm" Huey sad to the Navajo Indian. "Listen to what we have to say. One of your own was just killed in Tumbleweedcrest. The whites there think he's a cattle rustler."

"Name the dead Navajo."

"Shiye Santiago. He was mixed Mexican." From the boys' vantage point, the Indian appeared to close his eyes.

"That orphan boy. Glaring Owl will not be pleased. "Spotted Fox will take you black-faces to see Chief Glaring Owl."

The Indian named Spotted Fox began to climb down the hill. When he was about 6 feet from the bottom, he jumped off a ledge and landed directly in front of Huey and Riley. He towered over the boys. He motioned for the boys to follow him. He led them through a narrow pass that extended into a wider trail towards the Navajo village.

"Did you know Shiye personally?" Huey asked Spotted Fox, breaking the silence.

"Not personally. But, all Indians know one another to some degree on our land" replied Spotted Fox.

As Huey tried to converse with Spotted Fox, Riley struggled to keep pace with his brother and Spotted Fox. He thought Spotted Fox was doing some "Indian nature shit" to walk really fast.

"You boys are lucky I am bringing you in. Glaring Owl does not always welcome visitors; especially ones that are not Indians."

"I thought the Navajo have a peace treaty with the settlers and Tumbleweedcrest" said Huey.

"They do. But, that treaty benefits white man more than Navajo. We are confined to these lands and our limited hunting grounds. And we are also not allowed to look for gold."

"So why don't you go tell them white people to go find some other Indians' land to fuck up?" Riley blurted out. Spotted Fox gave Riley a look of puzzlement and distrust.

"You boys are black. Do you not understand oppression?"

"Ain't nobody in charge of me—"

"We do. Or at least, our granddad does. He was once a slave but we was born free" said Huey.

"I see. My people have lucky. Other Navajo peoples have been moved to New Mexico thanks to the treaty several years ago." Huey guessed Spotted Fox was referring to the U.S.-Navajo Treaty of 1868. "Stop" Spotted Fox suddenly ordered. Huey and Riley stopped.

"What's up?" asked Huey.

"Over this hill is my village and Chief Glaring Owl" said Spotted Fox. The boys followed Spotted Fox up the small hill. As they made their way down to the other side, a sprawling town of mud and adobe huts was nestled in front of them. Huey heard Riley gulp. The Navajo enclave was certainly not deserted; Navajo were emerging from their huts to see the new visitors. Huey caught 2 bigger Navajo, both carrying tomahawks, giving him the evil eye. Spotted Fox had the boys stop in front of a mud hut that was bigger than the others. It had a large hole in the roof to let smoke out of the hut. Spotted Fox peaked inside the hut, appeared to whisper to somebody unseen, and then he returned to the boys. "Glaring Owl is ready" he said to Huey and Riley. Another Indian, a woman, opened the curtain that acted as a door to Glaring Owl's hut. Taking a deep breath, Huey led Riley into the hut.

A large red-skinned Indian with a feather headdress was waiting for them inside. Huey looked closer and saw that the feathers on the Indian's headdress were gray owl feathers. The Indian also wore a necklace of owl bones. The man had one of the biggest noses the 2 Freeman boys had ever seen. He also has a taciturn yet stern expression on his face. Spotted Fox followed Huey and Riley inside. Spotted Fox greeted Glaring Owl in Navajo.

"I will speak for Glaring Owl" he said. He told Glaring Owl in Navajo that Huey and Riley are freed blacks who came from Tumbleweedcrest. Glaring Owl responded.

"He wants to know why you have walked onto Navajo lands" Spotted Fox said to the Freemans.

"Tell him that we're here to tell him that one of your own has been killed in our town" said Huey. "We're here as friends." Riley stood to the left of Huey, uncertain of the current situation.

Glaring Owl responded.

"Glaring Owl will listen to what you black faces have to say" said Spotted Fox.

"Shiye Santiago, a half-Navajo, half-Mexican boy was lynched in our town by white men" said Huey. "We met him before he died. He said he used to live here." Spotted Fox translated and Glaring Owl's face seemed to show a slight sign of sorrow. Then, the chief spoke and Spotted Fox translated.

"Glaring Owl regrets letting young Santiago go into town. Glaring Owl should've known that a town of white men should not be trusted to care for an Indian."

"Or niggas" muttered Riley.

"He was accused of rustling some cattle that belonged to Mayor Wuncler, the richest man in town" Huey explained.

"Glaring Owl believes young Shiye would never do that."

"The white man and the sheriff think otherwise."

Suddenly, Glaring Owl looked like he had an idea. He told something to Spotted Fox who also seemed surprised for a moment but then relaxed.

"Glaring Owl believes that some of our scouts spotted a group of men on horseback heading towards your town. These men looked like cattle rustlers according to our men."

"What makes you so sure?" asked Huey.

Glaring Owl closed his eyes than spoke.

"These men fired at our scouts. They wounded one of our scouts with a shot to the thigh. Cattle rustlers normally pick fights with Indians. That is how our suspicions arose."

"So you think these rustlers are to blame?" asked Huey.

"How we gonna catch these mothafuckas?" Riley chimed in.

"That is your problem, not the problem of the Navajo" said Spotted Fox. "Glaring Owl said that our people are ready to fight if need be."

"I doubt the whites in our town would ever side with you" said Huey. Glaring Owl spoke up.

"Glaring Owl says that you should stop giving into the white man. Your people were once enslaved yet you still do their bidding when freed. Indians are chained to the white man too. We are forced to leave at the pale faces' orders. Our people fight back." Glaring Owl whispered something else to Spotted Fox.

"Glaring Owl wanted you to know this: a violent, rogue tribe of Arapaho Indians is headed into this territory."

"How do you know this?" asked Huey.

"We used to be allies with the Arapaho of Colorado and Wyoming. They have since suffered violent blows from many wars with the white man's armies. They formed an army of restless warriors who wanted new land. They have been attacking homesteads along the way down to our lands and your lands, according to a runner we had sent to spy on them."

"Well shit" said Riley.

"Why are you telling us this? What about justice for Shiye?" questioned Huey. Glaring Owl suddnely smiled then spoke.

"Glaring Owl believes that the Navajo and the Arapaho are no longer friends. He figures that the white men stand at least have a fighting chance against the Arapaho. And, the Arapaho and the white man will fight each other."

"Cunning" said Huey. "Poetic justice." Glaring Owl gave the boys a glaring grin.

"Glaring Owl is the best strategist. But than any white American general." Riley began to chuckle but Huey punched his brother in the side to get him to stop.

"So you want us to warn our townspeople?"

"Glaring Owl says you can if you must. We want payback for cruel treatment over the years and deaths of several Indians, including Shiye Santiago."

"I see" said Huey.

"Chief Glaring Owl, son of the owl and the moon, wishes for our people to remain neutral in this upcoming war" said Spotted Fox.

"'War?'" asked Huey.

"Chief Glaring Owl is Navajo chief; not savage chief" concluded Spotted Fox. Glaring Owl whispered something in Spotted Fox's ear. "I'll tell you what. You will leave with an escort who will protect you until you're 2 miles from the town. We offer you temporary protection from the Arapaho and the cattle raiders."

Huey knew that this was very generous on the Indians' part so he thanked them gratefully. Riley simply shrugged.

The two large Navajo, the ones with tomahawks that the boys saw earlier, came inside. Glaring Owl ordered them to escort Huey and Riley back up the hill, through the other hills, and stop when they're about a mile and a half from Tumbleweedcrest. They nodded and gestured for the Freemans to follow.

"Farwell children" Spotted Fox said to Huey and Riley.

As Huey and Riley exited the village, they received stare upon stare from big-nosed, glaring, red-skinned Navajo.

It was time for their 2 Navajo escorts to depart. One of them pointed towards the horizon. Huey guessed the man was telling them the direction town was in.

"You go" the man said in very broken English.

"Thank you" Huey said.

"We ain't gonna snitch on your tribe, you can trust a nigga" said Riley. The two Navajo didn't seem to understand what Riley was talking about. As the boys headed towards town, Huey looked back at the Navajo but the two tribesmen had already disappeared. The boys were alone now.

"Damn what a day! Captured by Injuns, met some Injuns, and now we probably gonna get whipped for dirching church" said Riley.

"Okay, the last part might be true but everything isn't" said Huey. "We were invited in, not captured. Now we have to warn everyone and tell them the truth about Shiye."

"Nigga, who in that town is gonna listen to us?! Tom?! Jazmine?!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we should tell Ruckus about the Arapaho."

"Why we going to Ruckus?!" demanded Riley. "That nigga's gonna make it look we took that fucker's cattle! Huey, real niggas don't take blame fo' shit they didn't even do! I reckon I didn't even know Wuncler even had cattle."

"He's the sheriff. If _anyone's_ supposed to defend this damn town form Indians, it's Ruckus, sadly" said Huey.

After getting into town, the boys stopped at the watering hole to get some refreshing water. It was almost sundown by the time they came in. Huey had a feeling Ruckus still might be at his office.

When they knocked on the door, one of the white, Confederate-looking men answered the door.

"What do you niggers want?" he demanded.

"We need to tell Sheriff Ruckus somethin' about Injuns" said Huey.

"Injuns? Ah hell, why should I trust you coons?"

"We saw the Indians ourselves."

"Well alright. Too bad them Injuns didn't scalp y'all" the deputy, Grimes said. He let Huey and Riley inside and the boys found Ruckus sipping a cup of whiskey at his desk. "Them niggers are here to talk to ya, Ruckus" Grimes said.

"Ah the Freemans; my favorite little monkeys" Ruckus said. "What complaint about he nice white men do you have for me today?"

"Ruckus, this town is going to be invaded by rogue Arapaho Indians" said Huey. Ruckus spat his whiskey out.

"What?! Injuns coming to my town of beautiful white folks?! How do I know you niggas ain't lying?! Maybe you niggas are working with the Injuns!"

"We visited the Navajo reservation today" countered Huey. Their chief warned us about the Arapaho. They also said that the Indian boy your men lynched was innocent and that there are white cattle rustlers lurking around."

"Well that last part can't be true! White man around here don't steal nothin'!"

Huey closed his eyes in frustration. "Look, these Indians are going to invade this place. They're coming in from Colorado and Wyoming."

"Invasive Injuns. Hmmmmm. I know just what I'll do! I'll call the Calvary! Them brave white men will know how to stop those savage Injuns! Maybe I'll get to see some war friends too!"

"Ruckus what the hell'd you even do in the Civil War?!" Riley flat-out demanded.

"I cared for General Robert E. Lee's horse!" Ruckus replied with pride. Huey nearly facepalmed himself. _Veteran. Yeah._

As Ruckus scrambled to find a map of where the closest the US Calvary forts were, Huey and Riley headed for home.

Robert Freeman had spent the day moping at church. He didn't realize Huey and Riley were gone until halfway through worship service. After scouring town, Robert gave up. He opted to play Chinese checkers with Shen Chung. Later that evening, he nearly yanked his belt out of pants, prepared to whip, when he saw Huey ansd Riley walk through the front door.

"Where in the hell have you two been?!" he demanded.

Granddad's reaction gave the Freeman boys a chill.

Ruckus really should've listened to the Freeman boys because that very night, those same cattle rustlers struck again. This time they robbed another wealthy man, Thorne McDonnel, of his cattle.


End file.
